Red Riding Hooded Cape

Yet another project from the Oliver + S book - the Red Riding Hood. I envisioned something more cozy for E, something perfect for cooler weather and something to bust through my ever-growing fabric stash, and came up with a plaid, shearling-lined cape!

The shearling was, surprisingly, more of a pain to cut than it was to sew. And, gracias to FreeCycle, all fabric is vintage and was totally free!

I used toggle buttons and added an extra button loop for the closure - when I followed the pattern, the loop was too long and the cape kept falling back and choking Ester! So I cut the loop in half and added a second button to help make it more comfy and secure.

Love how great the lining looks!

And E loves it too, of course! She instantly ran to stand on the coffee table and model her new cape infront of the mirror. I made the smallest size in the book, and it is still a little big - for others making this for smaller kids and toddlers, I would recommend raising the arm holes a couples inches, so their arms can poke through at a more natural height. There is plenty of room to grow, and this will get lots of use over the years to come!

Comfy cozy!

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

Easy Peasy Halloween

Just a quick post on Halloween before I forget!

Ester is only two, but this year she started to grasp the concept of Halloween. Our favorite video is It's Halloween, and every time we saw pumpkins she would scream, "HowWEEN!" In previous years, I didn't put too much effort into a costume for her, but this year she would be way into dressing up, so I whipped up something cute & easy for her.

A unicorn!

Making the costume was super easy - a white hooded sweatshirt with an assortment of pink sparkly yarn stitched on to form a mane and tail, and a little felt horn - paired with pink jeans and white Minnetonka's - voila!

A grid stitched to sweatshirt hood, to which I stitched the mane yarn.

Unicorn hair!

A warm, cute and cuddly little unicorn, ready for lots of candy!

Hope everyone had a festive and safe Halloween!

A Backpack for E & Something for ME!

Have been staying busy crossing little projects off my list - using my new double needle skills to hem all my yoga/knit pants, repainting our hallway, and not to mention a little Halloween costume (details coming soon!) and school and work! Ah, I'm finding that procrastination is a great sort of motivation to finish other chores you have been putting off! (Social science inquiry, anyone? Bleh!)

Which brought me to finally make a backpack for my most favorite little pumpkin.

The pattern is, of course, from the Oliver + S book, Little Things to Sew. This is my fourth time using the pattern, and it is really the best backpack pattern ever (as raved about here), and it is so satisfying to make something so professional! I really, really love this book!

The smaller floral print is vintage, and the larger print is an Erin McMorris print from this spring. The interior is an Echino linen that I "had" to buy and finally put it to good use - I love how all three fabrics came together! 

In addition to the fun crocheted flowers, I included a fun little zipper charm (I get mine from ZipIt on Etsy):

I am so happy to have finally have made something for Ester that I have been meaning to for quite awhile - and she totally loves it too!

I was so motivated after finishing such a daunting project, that I attacked another one - a laptop sleeve for my computer. Not quite as exciting, but just as satisfying - to complete a very practical and necessary project! I am always lugging my laptop off to the library to study while hubby stays home with E, and after one too many leaking water bottle accidents in my purse, I decided this really could not wait any longer!

To make the task more exciting, I used my stash of my most favorite Echino linen - I made my first wallet from this same print, but in the gray colorway - I really love how simple and bright it is. The pattern I got from Sew, Mama, Sew! and is very simple and makes a perfect fit, not to mention, it's free! 

For the lining I used a soft small scale polka dot flannel. Underneath are (perfectly hidden) ugly fleece remnants I would never use, and since I didn't have any fusible fleece, it was a perfect opportunity to get rid of them.

My laptop is snug as ever, Ester now fashionably carries her own diapers and snacks...two projects crossed off the never-ending list. And, now that Halloween is over, just in time for Christmas!