Stuff I Make

Atti’s First Halloween

October 21, 2008

A lot of people wonder where we came up with the name Atticus. If they’re not familiar with To Kill A Mockingbird, they always think it’s the name of a gladiator. In fact, a lot of the nurses at the NICU called him Baby Spartacus. It only seemed appropriate considering what a tough little kid he is.

So when it was time to come up with his Halloween costume, the choice seemed obvious.

Here’s how I did it:

The first piece is a toga. I just cut a rectangle big enough to cover his back and his front, and then I sewed up the sides, leaving the top 3″ or so unsewn to make armholes. Then I cut a hole for his head. I didn’t bother hemming anything because I figured a gladiator was supposed to look ragged.

Then there’s the breastplate and shield. These two pieces are created in the same way. Cut two pieces of gold fabric to size. For the breastplate I cut a big rectangle that would cover his front and his back, and for the shield I traced a circle. I wanted the shield to strap to his arm, so I sewed a rectangle of fabric on to one of the circles before sewing them together, then I just laid them right sides together and sewed around, leaving a hole for turning. On the breastplate I wanted ties, so I put those between the layers before sewing, and I sewed all the way around and then cut a headhole to turn it right side out.

Once the pieces were right side out, I stuffed them with a layer of batting, and then sewed around the outside to close everything up. For the shield I added another layer of topstitching 1/4″ further in, and for the breastplate I topstitched little pecs and abs.

The spike on the shield was a little bit tricky. I basically just eyeballed it. I cut another circle the same size as the shield, and then I cut it into quarters. I took one of the quarters, lined up the straight edges and sewed it up. Then I stuffed it and used hot glue to fold the edges over and stick it to the shield. I followed it up with a few stitches in place just to make it look nice and make sure it wouldn’t go anywhere.

Then it’s just the laural wreath. I cut a piece of elastic to fit Atti’s head and sewed the edges together. I got some nice wool felt and cut a million and a half teardrop shapes out of them, and then hot glued them all on the elastic.

The whole costume took me maybe three hours, and since the gold fabric was all left over from another halloween costume, cost me maybe 3$. We’re planning on taking him trick or treating with his cousins this year. We really wanted to show him off, but felt like it would be a pretty blatant plea for candy if we took a baby around all by ourselves. With a couple other kids I think we can get away with it and still end up with enough candy to rot all our teeth.

Filed Under: baby news, Stuff I Make, Tutorials

The mother of all Tutorials

October 10, 2008

Months and months ago Bear and I worked together one weekend and we finally made a super deluxe kitty scratching post. So super fancy you couldn’t get one this decked out at any price. The kitties adore it, and I love it because they no longer attack my furniture. That was my one big fear in outfitting this place. That no sooner would we scrimp and save and buy the perfect couch, then it would be destroyed with one lazy kitty swipe.

Two of our fuzzy little brats with a guest kitty that came to visit.

Making it took a ton of work. So much work that just describing the work has sounded like too much work to bother with, but I’m super proud of this project and I think a tutorial would be really helpful, so I’m going to sack up and do it.

Here’s what you need:

2, 2×4’s cut to 4′ long
1, 2×4 cut to 5’8″ long
1, 2×4 cut to 2’6″ long
1, 2×4 cut to 1’6″ long
1 square of MDF 2’x2′
2, 2×4’s cut to 9″
1, 2×6 cut to 2’4″
1, 2×6 cut to 2’8″
1, 2×6 cut to about 9 1/2″
1, 1×2 cut to 4″
1, 10″ wide 4″ cardboard tube cut to 33″ long, with the remainder of the tube cut in half
5 L Braces
2 Bar braces
1 box 3″ screws
1 box #6 1″ screws
2 2″ screws
carpet – I ended up using a piece that was about 12’x6′

Start with your square of MDF and the first five 2×4’s. The MDF is obviously your base, and you’ll put one 2×4 in each corner and one in the middle. Trace around the 2×4’s to mark your position. Each 2 x 4 should fit in the corner diagonally so they’ll be lined up once we start putting all the stuff on top of them. This is really super tall, so we’ll be trying to make this as stable as possible. You’re going to have to drill from the bottom of the MDF into the 2×4 using the 3″ screws.

The 1’6″ 2×4 goes in the middle. You’ll install these 2×4’s from shortest to tallest, since you have to flip the base over and let the 2×4 support it. I used three of the 3″ screws.

The next piece of 2 x 4, 2’6″ long, goes in one of the corners. It should be perpendicular to the middle 2 x4. You don’t want the skinny sides lined up, fat side should be facing skinny side. Yes?

Then in the next corner, install one of the 4′ long 2×4’s, and the other diagonally across the base from it. These will support the tube between them across the diagonal of the base.

The last corner will be for the tallest piece. The 5’8″ 2×4 goes in the last corner, and should face your 2’6″ piece.

Oh gosh I hope this makes sense. This is the hardest part, I promise. Here’s a larger picture from when we were installing the longest piece and here you should be able to see the position of all the other posts.

When you’re satisfied with the position of all your posts, go back and reinforce them with the L braces. I threw away the screws that came in the package, and used #6 1″ screws since I was sure they were short enough that they wouldn’t go through the bottom of the MDF.

Next we start installing the support pieces. Your two 9″ 2×4’s will support the halfpipes on the tallest post and the shortest middle post. Line up the end of the 9″ piece with the back of the tall post facing towards the middle of the base and screw down into place using 3 of the 3″ screws. Do the same for the middle post, with the 9″ piece pointing towards one of the 4′ posts.

Then install the 2’4″ 2×6 onto the shortest corner post. Line up the 2×6 so that it bumps into the tallest corner post. First screw into the top of the short corner post using 3 of the three inch screws, then screw through the back of the tall corner post (using 3 of the 3″ screws) to secure the other end in place.

Next comes the support for the big cardboard tube. Install the 2’8″ 2×6 onto the top of each 4′ corner post by screwing down from the top of the 2×6 into the 2×4 using 3 of the 3″ screws. You might need to fudge a little bit depending on how you installed the posts, but everything will be covered in carpet anyway, so no need to worry.

I was making this up as I went along, and right about here I decided that the tallest post was still too wobbly. I happened to have a scrap piece of 2×6 laying around and cut it to stick in between the crosspiece and the tall post, which for me was about 9 1/2″. Luckily there is a lot of give here, so precision isn’t a requirement. I used the same three 3″ screws and went through the back of the tallest post, and then used bar braces to connect the support piece to the cross piece.

One last piece of wood to screw into place. I designed this so that the lowest halfpipe is supposed to connect to the post it’s nearest. So I needed to create a way for the halfpipe to do that. Screw your little piece of 1×2 onto the corner post your lowest little platform is facing. I used the 2 2″ screws here because you still need to be concerned about the screws poking out the back but also want a nice strong hold.

You then take one of your cardboard half pipes and then, using the 1″ screws, screw it into your little base a couple of times, and then onto the larger platform a few more.

Do the same with the other halfpipe on your tallest platform, except you’ll just leave the other end dangling in mid air.

Last piece to install: the great big tube. These are available at any big box hardware store, just look in the section with the cement. Before you screw it into place, you’re going to want to be sure and cut a big hole in it. You’ll need this to get any screws in the middle, but mainly so your cats can have a way in, so be sure to make it big enough for any fat butts you have lying around. Then screw it to the long platform with a couple of 1″ screws in the middle and in each end.

Your main structure is now built. Next for the messy part. I went to a couple of pet stores to scope out cat trees and see if there was a neat way to cover them with the carpet. It looks like there isn’t. Everything I saw was pasty and patched, but I can tell you now that my little trio has been at this thing for eight months or so, it will end up looking bald and frayed anyway, so don’t lose to much sleep over this. Just don’t be shy with the staple gun and wood glue and go to town. I started at the top of each piece and worked my way down so I could cover any messy bits as I went. It took a few nights of Arrested Development marathons to finish it, but I’m thrilled with how it turned out.

My favorite part is that this is absolutely not a one person job, so Bear and I were doing the whole thing together and for the most part, this was his first real experience with building something. It is such fun to watch the satisfaction he takes in this, and of course to look at my pristine couches, unmarked by our pack except, of course, by the fur covering every available surface.

Filed Under: crazy cat lady, Stuff I Make, Tutorials

We Might Have Gotten Carried Away on This One

October 6, 2008

Ta Da!

This cake was complicated, and I can’t say we were completely successful. But close enough. Despite the fact that at one point I got so frustrated with our dadgum royal icing that I may or may not have thrown a palm leaf across the room.

It may seem like an odd concept for a cake, but we were celebrating three birthdays. The Egyptian pyramid was for my sister-in-law Mari and my Father-in-law Mike, who are both history nuts for this period. Then the USC flag on the top is our nod to sister-in-law Dianna, who is an alumnus and superfan of the USC football team.

We had some major execution problems. For starters, you’d think a simple pyramid would be an easy shape to carve. You’d be wrong. Well, it may be a simple shape, but it turns out that carving a cake is much more complicated than we figured. I kept ending up with one side of the pyramid being thinner than the other because I could not manage to keep my knife straight. Then we tried to frost the cake and those tiny little layers would not hold still. Bear made homemade lemon curd and French Buttercream frosting to use as fillings in between the layers of white cake. It was unbelievably delicious, but even after cramming toothpicks all throughout the cake, nothing would stay put. I finally ended up slightly melting the frosting and pouring it over the top.

Then we tried to put the fondant on, but the point of our pyramid kept slicing right through it. We ended up tossing a layer across it like a saddle, and then doing two separate triangles for the other sides. Removing some of the weight like that helped a little, but by the time we got around to eating it, you can see how the fondant drooped. The bricks started out straight.

And then of course there were those infernal palm trees. I sculpted them out of gum paste, but I let the leaves and the trunk dry separately. Only then did I discover that there was no good way to attach them together. Our royal icing refused to set up, and after throwing a slightly major hissy fit, I gave up and went to bed. When we got to Bear’s folk’s house, we caved and used hot glue.

Still, despite my completely unrealistic standards, I’m more happy than disappointed with how this cake turned out. Bear came up with putting the Nile in there out of sugar, and that was a huge hit. Micah insisted on licking the river like a lollypop and knocked over the palm trees that managed to stay up. And Bear also came up with the brown sugar sand. He’s turning out to be so creative. I think all those years working in Tresa’s Sweatshop he’s managed to pick up a thing or two.

Filed Under: Grand Schemes and Other Plans, Stuff I Cook, Stuff I Make, The Good Life

Big weekend plans

October 3, 2008

Going over my change of address card yesterday reminded me that I don’t think I’ve mentioned Bear’s new hobby. This makes a grand total of four. Me, sports, TV, and now baking. In that order.

Years of watching the Food Network finally got through to him. We’d watch those crazy cake decorating competitions and, of course, Ace of Cakes, and one day out of the clear blue sky Bear turns to me and says, “I think I’d like to try that.” I remember turning to him and waiting for the punchline, but he was absolutely serious.

So for Christmas that year I bought him a kitchen scale and a really really fancy baking book. He hasn’t had a ton of time to delve into things, but so far everything he has made has turned out perfectly. It’s kind of infuriating to me. I’ve been baking for years with mixed results, and on his first try everything just works. He keeps signing up to bring complicated desserts to events when he’s not only never made them before, but never even tried the technique before. I try to gently warn him that you probably shouldn’t plan on taking an untested recipe out in public, but then it turns out perfect, again, and I just look like a killjoy.

I think the secret for him is two things: 1) I splurged and got him a PROFESSIONAL cookbook. A cookbook they use as a textbook. Everything is measured by weight and everything is explained in super precise detail. This book is made to set a baker up for success. And 2) Bear has years of training as a Chemistry student that make him an excellent baker. I am a fantastic cook. But I’m a mediocre baker. And that’s because cooking and baking require different skill sets. My creative, throw it in a pot and let’s see what happens, a little of this and a little of that, style of cooking works great. But it’s a disaster for baking which is much more like a chemistry experiment. All those years he thought he was preparing to be a doctor, turns out he was in training as a pastry chef.

Bear’s already imagining what Atti’s first birthday cake will look like. He has grand ideas of some fondant and buttercream extravaganza that would be right at home on the shows he loves. So in preparation, he’s volunteered to make all the family birthday cakes until then as practice.

Our first outing was for our niece Ella’s 2nd birthday. She’s totally into pink and girly and loves butterflies, so we thought we’d keep it simple and do a cake covered in pink fondant and decorated with butterflies. Actually, I thought we’d keep it simple. It took quite a while for me to convince Bear that for his first attempt at fondant he should start small instead of carving an enormous butterfly out of cake and decorating it with every color in the rainbow.

It’s a good thing I prevailed because the cake turned out cute, but stretched us to the ends of our abilities.

Bear mixed the colors into the fondant and rolled it all out. A huge pair of muscley arms really come in handy for that. Then we used cookie cutters for the flowers, and I cut the letters out by tracing letters I printed out on the computer. The butterflies are made out of gum paste because it’s supposed to dry hard, but it apparently takes longer than overnight because we had the hardest time getting them to hang on the wires without sagging and breaking. Then we colored them with these really cool food coloring markers. The wire by the way, is a straight up knock off of Chef Duff.

We also made cupcakes so we could have enough to feed all the guests.

This weekend is our next family birthday. It’s actually a 3-fer. My sister-in-law Dianna, My other sister-in-law Mari, and my father-in-law Mike. Bear is still every bit as ambitious, but this time I have completely failed in reigning him in. His plans include two kinds of filling, eight layers of cake, and building a pyramid complete with palm trees and the Nile river. He’s very excited, and I think we might just be able to pull it off.

Filed Under: Grand Schemes and Other Plans, Stuff I Cook, Stuff I Make

Change of Address Cards

October 2, 2008

When we moved in to this house, it was pretty much the culmination of a lot of dreams come true for me. Finally, I felt like I could put down roots. Finally I would be in the same place for more than a matter of months. So of course, I had to send out fancy change of address cards.

This card has been sitting on my desk for about a year, trying to remind me to share it with you. I’m finally sick of looking at it, so I better just do it already.

The finished card is a postcard, with the gray square lifting up to reveal our address. The ribbon and brads at the top form a hinge for it. The medallion in the corner is my own design on shrinky dink. A street sign showing the corner of Home and Heart has been in my head for years – since the days I used to design scrapbooking supplies. It was such a relief to finally get it out of there and into the light of day.

I assembled around 100 of these around this time last year, right when the wildfires were sweeping through and I had to evacuate my pregnant self. I sat glued to the news while I worked at the table cutting and pasting and praying the fire wasn’t making my efforts obsolete. At the time I thought of it as an exercise in hope.

We thought long and hard about the language to use on the card. Going to all the trouble of a handmade card, I didn’t just want to borrow a shopworn phrase to stick on the inside. I also wanted it to reflect our own plans for the house – a place to nest, to nurture anyone in our circle of influence, to welcome visitors and all the people we love from around the country that we’ve had to leave behind in our wanderings. So we came up with the idea of making a brochure for our own little vacation destination.

If you lift the flap on the front of the postcard, you’d see our new address, and then:

See back for promotional details.

Flip the postcard over and you’d read:

Just 5 miles from beautiful beaches and only 45 minutes from Disneyland, the Edmunds’ Family Bed and Breakfast boasts a guest bedroom with a breathtaking view of the street, sprawling feet of backyard, and the rare opportunity to visit the legendary wild cats native to the property. Spa facilities include an actual working sauna located just feet from the trash cans, and a private bathroom with plenty of hot water (cold water not included). Head chef Tresa Edmunds is proud to announce the new acquisition of talented pastry chef, Jared Edmunds, both waiting to delight your palate with gourmet treats.

Call for your reservation today!

Oh my gosh how we laughed and laughed writing that. At the time we were just discovering all the things that weren’t so perfect about the house. For a while there, we really thought we bought ourselves a lemon. The cold water really didn’t work in the guest bathroom, we really do have this eyesore of an old outdoor sauna right next to the trash cans, we really do have only feet of backyard, and that’s only the stuff we could laugh about back then. It helped us so much to develop a sense of humor about all the unpleasant discoveries that are just part of regular old home ownership.

A year later, with most of the unpleasantness behind us, I love this little house. It’s so perfect for our style, for the way we live. Except for the kitchen. But one of these days I’ll fix that too.

Filed Under: My Dreamhouse in Progress, Stuff I Make

Pillow Trial and Error

October 1, 2008

I kind of disappeared last week because I got a bee in my bonnet. I’ve been hard at work feathering my nest in preparation for the long winter. Or in other words, trying to clear my desk off and batten down the hatches for all the Christmas craziness I sign myself up for every year. Plus I had some much beloved family pop in to town, and since they would appreciate it, I wanted to have the place looking as finished as possible.

I’ll be sure and share pictures. It’s amazing how different the place looks with a few rugs and pillows.

Since my whole style is pretty much Traditional-things-done-in-an-untradtional-way, it would probably come as no surprise that I draw huge inspiration from Denyse Schmidt. I’m doing the whole house in a style reminiscent of art deco/midcentury modern design, so I had this vision in my head of a design that I thought I could render in her kind of style.

I failed miserably.

Don’t they look like bar graphs? Like they belong in the background of a cell phone commercial?

I had planned on making six pillows, two for each couch throughout the house, and once I completed the first four, I decided I absolutely hated them. For the last two I decided to go in a different direction.

Ahhhh. Much better. So obviously, I now have to go back and make four more pillows to replace those first missteps. I think my problem was that I was trying to evoke Denyse Schmidt in a totally bogus cheater method. I was hoping I could get away with just doing everything in strips instead of taking the time to do the puzzle as I went. Once again, proof that shortcuts are not worth the trouble.

Filed Under: Grand Schemes and Other Plans, My Dreamhouse in Progress, Stuff I Make

blog housekeeping and general ridiculousness

September 8, 2008

Congratulations to Gerb who won the auction for Nie at $30 for a set of two superhero capes! I’ll be emailing you shortly to work out all the details.

Supergabers just missed the auction deadline with her bid of $40, and I felt terrible at the thought of more money not going to the Nielsens, so I’ve decided that if anyone is still interested, I’ll sell custom capes for a $20 donation. Email me at tresa at reesedixon dot com and we’ll work it out.

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I’m having a terrible rotten no-good very bad day over here. I’m so sore from head to foot that I can barely move, and my eye is covered in a makeshift patch of toilet paper and adhesive gauze. I’m typing this with one eye held shut and tears watering down my face turning my eyepatch into mush.

Saturday started beautifully. We had a little family outing to a local nursery to pick out fruit trees to replace the overgrown jungle nightmare our backyard used to be. We hauled the Rookie around in the sunshine and debated varieties of lemon and lime while I daydreamed about glorious bounties of homegrown persimmons in the backyard.

I spent all the rest of Saturday elbow deep in concrete and cinder blocks, building up a retaining wall, and I still managed to do a lousy job of it. I only had to add two layers of brick onto the existing retaining wall, so the thought of buying all kinds of equipment I’d never use again, let alone actually hiring a professional for such a small job, was ridiculous to me. I’d seen my dad work with concrete enough that I thought I could easily do it myself. I’ve done plenty of mosaic work in my life, so as I was slopping the mortar around I thought I could work with it just like grout, only to discover that once the concrete landed somewhere, it stayed there.

On top of that, I had to kind of makeshift a corner because I wasn’t willing to rent some kind of tool to cut one brick, so it just couldn’t possibly be more slapped together and ugly.

I didn’t want to buy a wheelbarrow when my backyard is maybe four feet deep, and I didn’t want to buy a mixing drill bit when I never plan on working with concrete again, so I ended up mixing the concrete with a hand trowel and my bare hands, leaving several layers of skin behind. The skin that remained is so dry and peeling I look like the palms of my hands are recovering from a sunburn. I would not recommend this method.

My one consolation is that the only reason I went to all this trouble is because I’m going to fill the planter with dirt so the flowers I plant will actually be visible above the edge. If this gorgeous bit of masonry was actually going to be visible above ground, I might have to knock it all down and try again.

Last night I laid on the couch moaning and groaning and generally whining about my aching muscles, one of my cats jumped up on my chest for a snuggle, and in trying to push him away, he managed to fall in such a way that he nicked my eye with one of his claws. It immediately started running and running and felt like I had something lodged in it. From past experience with my clutsy self, I figured my eye must have been scratched so I went to bed and hoped it would be better by morning. It wasn’t. Instead I’ve been trying to take care of Atti by myself while Bear was at work with one good eye, when I can manage to keep it open, and a back and thighs that still scream every time I try to use them.

I finally reached my limit and called Bear to come home from work and take over baby duties. He took Atti to go pick up some lunch for us, went out to my car, and discovered that I somehow got a flat tire.

I’m a disaster area. Hopefully I’ll get out all my bad luck and inconveniences in one crappy day and I’ll have great karma for months after this. Knock on wood.

Filed Under: Grand Schemes and Other Plans, Stuff I Make

NieNie Day

September 3, 2008

I’m coming really late to this party, but thanks to Barb’s blog I finally heard about Stephanie and Christian Nielsen. On Saturday, August 16th, they were in a private plane crash resulting in burns covering 30% of Christian’s body, and 80% of Stephanie’s. They are the parents of four young children and fellow latter-day saints, and my heart just aches for what they’re all dealing with.

During my own hardships this year, the world overwhelmed us with love and support. We were showered with flowers and cards and cash and gas cards and presents and supplies for the NICU. Some from people we didn’t even know. Moments like this in your life are catalysts. They are the times when you discover what your life means to you, what the world means to you. When you realize that behind the pettiness of daily life lies a core of humanity that will take care of you when you reach the end of your own strength. It is proof of my religious faith, that Heavenly Father loves his children and will help us through it all – but it is up to the rest of us to do the work. We are the hands He uses to lift each other up.

All around the internet people are holding silent auctions with the proceeds benefitting the Nielsen family and I wanted to jump in. I wish that I could do more, but I have to be realistic about my time now, so here’s what I’ve come up with.

The proceeds of any item in my etsy shop sold during the month of September will go 100% to the Nielsen family. Unfortunately I don’t have a ton in there right now, but if you need cards or little hair clips, you can get some cheap ones and support this family at the same time.

I’m also auctioning off a set of two custom superhero capes.

The winner will just have to tell me a rough size estimate and the letters to be monogrammed, and 100% of the purchase price will go to the Nielsen’s. I’ll have you pay directly to their paypal account and the winner will just forward me a reciept.

The auction starts as soon as this posts and will end at 11:59 pm Pacific time, Saturday September 6th. To bid, just leave a comment with your amount. Make sure you leave a name of some kind, anonymous comments won’t be honored. Also, make sure you leave me some way of getting a hold of you. Blogger won’t let me email back to individual comments.

Please spread the word about this so we can rally around this family.

Filed Under: Are you kidding me?, Grand Schemes and Other Plans, Stuff I Make

Herb Garden Markers

August 31, 2008

The last part of our house left untouched was our backyard. It was seriously rough. Like, we had a jungle threatening to swallow our house.

See?

We’ve been slowly slowly slowly ripping out all this stuff. I’m sure the same person who picked out the monkey wallpaper and painted the jungle mural on the wall designed this backyard landscaping. I eventually want to rip out everything and put in fruit trees and a cutting garden.

So far I’ve managed to rip out an enormous bush of spiky leaves that are ubiquitous around here. I don’t know exactly what kind of plant it is, but I hated it. The spot it left behind is just outside my kitchen door and the exact right size and spot for a kitchen herb garden. I found almost all of my favorite herbs at a nearby garden center (I still haven’t managed to find Bay) and set the whole thing up a few weeks ago. I’ve been thrilled with the results. I’ve been using the herbs in every meal I make, and everything is taking off like gangbusters. I had an early setback where I nearly killed my dill plant, but he started recovering once I figured out that I had planted him directly over the gas line and apparently plants don’t like that so much.

All that was left for my dream come true was some spiffy little herb markers so I could tell the difference between the cilantro and the parsley. Since it had to be weatherproof, I pulled out the polymer clay.

I just rolled out some rectangles big enough for the name of each herb, and used my new Martha Stewart stamps to create the names. I knew I wanted to use armature wire to poke them into the ground, so I pressed the wire up against the edge of the clay to make a little trough. Because I wanted to make them extra fancy, I dusted them with some pearly powders and then tossed them in the oven.

When the clay was baked and cool I took some acrylic paint and rubbed it into the letters, rinsing off any excess.

My initial plan was to glue the wire into the trough I made, but I soon discovered that wasn’t going to work. By the time I finished handling the clay my troughs were no longer perfect enough for the wire to fit snugly down inside it. Instead I used the troughs as a guide to bend the wire around and just let the tension hold it in place. That turned out to be all the adhesion it needed.

I didn’t worry too much about centering the tiles inside the wire. I wanted them to be a little off center so it would look more graphically interesting, and the clay is so light weight that there was no problem supporting it that way. Then I just poked the wires in the ground next to the right plant, and now I have my perfect herb garden.

Now I just need to work on eeeehhhhverything else.

Filed Under: My Dreamhouse in Progress, Stuff I Grow, Stuff I Make, Tutorials

Super Nephew

August 28, 2008

My cute little nephew Micah turned five back in May, and because Atti had *just* come home from the hospital and was still on oxygen, I missed his big birthday shindig. I also had no time to make him anything, and I’m committed to giving handmade gifts whenever I can manage it. Particularly to little kids who are so saturated with plastic cartoon toys.

Micah has such an imagination. I could sit forever and listen to the stories he makes up for his plastic knights to enact. I wanted to make him something that would use that crazy brain of his and allow him to become part of the action.

This superhero cape took me about 30 minutes to whip up. The fabric is some kind of a polyester jersey, so I didn’t even try to hem anything. I started by sewing the big white circle in the middle, using a huge piece of tissue paper behind the jersey to stabilize it and stop it from stretching. I used fleece I had lying around so once again I didn’t have to think about hemming anything. I printed out a giant M on the computer and cut that out of the blue fabric, and then stuck it in place with fusible web. Then I just sewed a quick casing at the top, and used the rest of the blue fabric to make up a tie. Just so I could continue my trend of no hemming, I outlined the M in puffy fabric paint to cover up the raw edges.

I made the tie fairly long since I wanted him to be able to use the cape for awhile, but I also didn’t want him to be able to pull the tie out as he was playing, so I sewed through the casing in the middle of the cape. Then he can still gather the cape while it’s too big for him, but it won’t come out no matter how hard he plays.

After I gave it to him he refused to take it off even as we went shopping at Target. I got such a thrill out of seeing this mini superhero wander around the store. I kept trying to snap a picture, but he was too fast for me.

I thought the whole thing was so cute, I had to make one for my little superguy too.

I think he’s still got some growing to do.

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OR DOES HE…..