Snap Tape Tutorial

Patterns for kids clothes often call for snap tape. This is twill tape with pre-set snaps all ready for you to sew into your garment to make potty training and diaper changes easier. It seems to me that while this tape is handy, it's often hard to find. The tape I've found is also wider than I'd like and the snaps are set too far apart. I decided to make my own to get exactly what I want. Here's what to do if you want to do as little hand sewing as possible.

Materials: 1/2" twill tape. Size 15 or 3/8" snaps*. Garment in progress.
*Note if you want to use larger snaps, you will need wider tape.

As you can see in the image above, the FRONT of the garment will provide the top of the two flaps so that the opening will face toward the back. This is where I placed the open (female) side of the snaps.

1. Hem the bottom of the legs, leaving the crotch seam open (see sides of picture below).

2. Turn the BACK crotch seam under twice to completely finish the edge just like you did with the hem of the legs. Turn the FRONT seam under once about 1/4" to clean up the edge (not pictured). Stitch.

3. Cut 2 pieces of 1/2" twill tape to the width of the crotch seam, adding about 1/4" to allow for turning under at both sides.

4. Turn the ends of one piece of the twill tape under and pin. Stitch to the right side of the BACK.

5. Turn the ends of the second piece of twill tape under and pin. Stitch the twill tape over the unfinished edge of the FRONT crotch hem on the wrong side of the fabric.

6. Mark on the tape where you want to place your snaps so they will match up when closed. Set your snaps following the package directions. The prong (male) side goes on the BACK. The socket (female) side will go on the FRONT.

7. Handstitch the wide opening closed on both pieces of tape.

This is what the open (female) side will look like.

And you're finished!

I hope this will be helpful. It took me a couple of tries to figure out the best way to do this with the least amount of handstitching possible. Please let me know if you have any questions and I'll do my best to answer them.

Small for Big

My screenprinted yeti onesies were featured on the awesome Small for Big blog that features really cool stuff for kids.

These onesies have been really popular and I'm considering making more. I have my friend Dorsey, who prints all my yeti shirts for me, print some onto fabric. I iron my fusible interfacing to the back of them, cut them out, then iron them on to the onesies and use the sewing machine to do the applique like I do for my other designs. His press is too large to print directly onto onesies.

People had been asking for these for a while so I made some up. It's so nice when someone else "gets" your stuff. I want my stuff to have an edge without being snarky. I want my kid to look good without announcing her parents' sense of humor to the world. I have so far successfully avoided buying baby clothes without witty (or not-so-witty phrases on them) and I'm hoping to keep that up and make it possible for others to do the same.

A sneak peak . tails

Somehow I managed to finish two (TWO!!!) new designs for the Squidfire's show this weekend (Yay, Baltimore! and more on you tomorrow).

I've been wanting to add some huge tails for a while now but I was having a hard time breaking away from the beans. The heart guy is wearing a suit from one of my favorite Alexander Henry prints and the yellow guy features one of Jackie Shapiro's cool animal prints. The tails are made from vintage-inspired dotted swiss. As always, I've hand-embroidered the faces and carefully stitched the edges with my fab Huskystar. I'll post more pics after the show.

BOGO sale continues

Due to some success, I have decided to continue the BOGO sale in my Etsy shop until Feb. 14.

Here's the deal:

Buy any one item at regular cost and get ANY item of equal or lesser cost for FREE! Please shop as you normally would adding both items to your cart, but do NOT pay, wait for an updated invoice reflecting your sale prices. ALL items qualify for the sale, even bean dolls and yetis, panties and rompers.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Small gift

I'm an avid reader of Small magazine and have been since issue #1 was all over the blogosphere some time ago. If you remember, Lemon Cadet had some pieces featured in a spread in a later issue.

I offered one of my rompers for those who participated in their giveaway, Small Gift. Check it out.

Crafty Bastards 2008

Crafty Bastards this year was awesome. So awesome, in fact, that we are only just now recovering enough to get the photos off the camera.

Mr. Lemon and Baby Lemon sported their fabulous Lemon Cadet apparel making Team Lemon, by far, the best dressed peeps in town.

More pics on flickr.

The weather wasn't fabulous and we were set up in mosquitoland but it was still a great show and we are already looking ahead to next year. Just think, Baby Lemon will be walking! We made some changes to the table displays and the booth was back to snazzy.

We got to meet Greg the writer of my favorite blog Daddytypes and another fellow blogger, Mamabird from SurelyYouNest. They each had incredibly well-behaved and well-dressed kids with them. Perhaps next year they'll let me borrow one for the ride home. Baby Lemon hit meltdown as soon as her little yeti onesie hit the carseat...

Off to Crafty Bastards!

Team Lemon is all packed up and just about ready to go. The Trader Joe's bag on the left is full of all the new yeti ringer onesies, the top bag has the new yeti plush (with the long luscious fur), there are new rompers below the yetis, and a bunch of screenprinted yeti tees hot off the press. The big bin contains lots of lemon candies and loads of one-of-a-kind pieces while the two big space bags are absolutely stuffed with bean softies. This is how we travel.

In the basement, the tent is in its bag and the silver bins are stocked with all the table display stuff. For outdoor shows we also have to bring our own tables and chairs. This time, we have to get Baby Lemon read too. That's another blog post altogether.

I uploaded sneaky peeks of all the newest beans to my flickr. Because Crafty Bastards is doing a lot of promo for the show via Twitter, I've been spending some time there too. It's addictive. You have no idea (actually, I think a few of you do). If I can figure out how to send messages with my cell phone, I'm going to have a special sale on Sunday.

OK. Hope to see you all in Washington, D.C. for best Crafty Bastards show ever this Sunday, September 28 from 10 - 5 at the Marie Reed Learning Center in the Adams Morgan neighborhood.

Find Team Lemon at booth 10 right next to local furniture peeps Miss Pixie's.

A yeti premiere

Check out my little interview on the Crafty Bastards blog. I just finished up all the new yeti ringer onesies and plush and you can read more about them over there. The plush is amazing. I'm super happy with how they turned out. They're a bit bigger than Zadie's head and extremely soft.

The ringer onesies also turned out better than I expected. They come in tan, pink and blue and they all have chocolate piping. I have 3 - 6, 6 - 12, and 12 - 18 months. Now that I have a wee one of my own, I feel that these onesies run slightly small (or maybe I just have an enormous child). The fit is similar to Old Navy stuff or American Apparel.

Here's the extra dilly-o, G: I'm having a sale at the show where you can get both the plush and the onesie for $40. Also pair a romper or ringer tee with a bean plush and get them both for either $36 or $42 depending on the size of the bean.

If there's something in the Etsy shop that you want and you don't want to pay shipping, you can buy it online and pay for it then (I'll refund your shipping when you come to collect the goods) OR pay me at the show. As you know, many of my items are one of a kind or have limited sizes available so this is the best way to get what you want before everyone else does. Just make sure you let me know your plans via the "message to seller" box during checkout. Also do this before midnight Friday or I won't know what you're talking about by the time we get to D.C.

New goods.

After many a sneak peek and a bunch of hints, it's time for the grand unveiling. I listed the first of the new line this afternoon and I have to say I absolutely love it.

The seersucker fabric was wonderful to work with; it's just such good quality. I also love the new blanks. They're a brand called Rabbit Skins and the cotton is nice and sturdy and won't shrink much at all.

There are 4 different rompers: aqua with a reproduction quilt fabric, lime green with a coral/orange seersucker, yellow with a green seersucker and bright orange stitching for amazing contrast, hot pink with the popular bird bean flannel (that gorgeous cherry blossom print) and two ringer tees. One is an aqua with pink trim and pink seersucker while the other is orange with blue trim and a blue seersucker. Most of these are unisex -- something I try to always have since so many people buy my items for baby shower gifts.

I'll be carrying the rompers in 6 months, 12 months, and 18 months. The ringer tees are sizes 2 and 4 for toddlers. I'll be happy to do custom orders for larger sizes but as usual, the sizes and colors are going to vary depending on what I can get.

I plan to list one in my Etsy shop each day this week. For now, check out my flickr for more photos.

Coming Soon...

I bought these fabrics when I was in New York City for the Bust Craftacular. I was anticipating my Spring line. My Spring line has become my Summer collection. So anyway...

As soon as I get finished with this big freelance job I do twice a year, the sewing will commence. These seersucker fabrics are from a really cool shop I found in the garment district. They are super high quality men's suit fabrics and I have been loving having them in my life. I'm keeping my blank onesies a secret until they're finished. I'm super excited about them.

This weekend I plan to go through all my stock and clean up the Etsy shop. I'll add back in some of my custom hand-stitched pieces and that pile of yeti shirts I've been going on and on about. I have a few long-sleeved onesies that are ready to go and some bean dolls as well.

I expect to make some bean dolls to match the new fabrics so that when The Lemons go to shows this Summer and Fall, we'll be able to offer discounts when someone buys a set.

The best part of all of this is that Baby Lemon will be modeling the new designs (as soon as she fattens up enough to fit into them).

DogBoneArt for Baby Lemon

printed baby collection
Originally uploaded by dogboneart

I haven't bought much baby gear on Etsy yet. I feel like I should wait for some reason. But when I saw that robot there in the middle by DogBoneArt, I had to have it. I was so sad that she didn't have it in my size. But since I have lots of blanks (and blanks I can't use because of flaws) and Laura wanted some Lemon Cadet, we did a trade.

I can't wait to get these in the mail!

Lemon Cadet Sighting...

Check out the Trendy Tots blog. They featured Dolores, one of my very favorite designs as part of their Fresh Finds. I don't have many hot pink onesies left and I haven't been able to find anymore wholesale so she may be discontinued soon. Such sadness.

Trendy Tots is a really amazing blog. They highlight all kinds of cute, indie products. What an honor!

News from the homefront: Mr. Lemon has been hard at work fulfilling my insane nesting desires. He replaced the kitchen countertops with the coolest laminate (if that's what it's even called...). Today he finished fixing all the cracks in my new studio (his old office) and we might even see some paint on the walls by the weekend. When that's all finished, the nursery challenge will begin.

I have pictures of the kitchen to share and a special vegan cheese ball recipe. I expect to have some time next week!

As seen in Parents Magazine...

I've known about this little secret for a while now but since the issue is FINALLY out on the stands, it's time to share.

The Lemon Cadet baby line is featured on page 28 of the December 2007 issue of Parents Magazine. They did a little story on Etsy.com and chose one of my onesies as the main photo. What's even better is that they put the onesie on the world's cutest child for the shoot.

I subscribed to the magazine and while ago and got the November issue in the mail but I'm still waiting for December. Hmmm... Waiting for December. That'd make a good band name.

Hey look! I'm on the front page.

Ever since Etsy started scrolling recently listed items on a 4 minute delay for their front page, I've doubted it. I never once saw an item of mine show up. Today I went to finish up a convo then thought I'd go see what treasury was being featured and there I was! Cute little yeti head on a pair of panties. I recycled some old pics to create a custom listing for a special order. Cute.

Yetis are happiest when they get some attention.

Craftiest Bastard of the Week Again!

The Washington City Paper has once again featured Lemon Cadet as the Craftiest Bastard of the Week!


This time one of my yeti onesies made the cut. That's Ryan. He's a custom order onesie.

Oh no! Pat Pat!

Every time I get a custom order to do one of my little guys on a different size, I'll print out the picture of the original item and cut it out to use as a pattern. Such was the case with Pat Pat (above).

So I used old Pat Pat to make a new Pat Pat and left the pattern on the living room floor and went to bed (because it was late and I was tired).

When I got up the next morning, that was all that was left of Pat Pat. The cats had found a new toy. Where is Pat Pat's arm? Is Pat Pat in pain from the bites? We may never know.

R.I.P. Pat Pat pattern.

My My!!

On our way home from the Brooklyn Indie Market, my trusty assistant and I stopped by the fabulous shop, My My, run by the charming Taryn. It was super easy to find (once we realized that New Jersey had two Interstates 95 (why? why NJ? why? the reason roads have unique numbers is so that people can get to places easily and without confusion).


I have some items there and since I had just spent weeks preparing for the craft show, I had lots of new loot for her to choose from. So up there is a picture of my onesies hanging out with all their new friends. Just above is my stuffed beans with their new friends including that adorable little creature from Cornflake Girl. From what I understand, My My has hired a new employee to be Plush Department Manager so things will really start looking nice.

Taryn is super sweet a runs a nice shop. The colors are perfect and she has a great selection of indie goods including zines. There is a picture of Lemon Cadet with personal assistant here on flickr.

In recent My My news, Taryn's sister Jennifer and her daughter Annabelle caught some crazy virus and both were sick for days. Jennifer was even in the hospital. Now they have tons of bills. If you'd like to help out, read this blog post. They are working on an Etsy shop to raise some money.

a drool.icio.us feature

Chris Jordan who blogs for Babble's amazing Droolicious blog featured my custom Here kitty, kitty onesie. Babble is an online magazine for "the new urban parent." They have several blogs in addition to a ton of helpful information for cool parents. My kitty was featured on the handmade section of their daily blog. I have never seen this site before and I'm floored to be featured. It's very well done.

The picture they chose is one of the constant reminders that I really need to start taking better photographs. MFA, where are you when I need you?

And I'm well aware that I have yet to write a post on our super awesome trip to My My. Patience little grasshopper.

Market Report

This weekend Lemon Cadet hit the road for a trip to the Brooklyn Indie Market. There were some amazing sellers there, including fofolle who made the super cute microminis and Melissa Bell with these dresses that looked phenomenal on every single person who tried one on (both in photo). I also got to hang out next to My Funky Twisted Soul and Bohemian Soul, a mother-daughter crafting extravaganza. Kat Kaplan gave me some great advice as she's got some actual business experience and I got to meet some ladies of the New York City Craft Mafia, among a handful of other creative sellers. It was a really fun day. The crowd was pleasant and really receptive to all the good goods.


August seems to be a slow month for Brooklyn but the market got a lot of foot traffic because of its location. Despite the slow sales, I truly had a wonderful day. I learned a lot, as I do with every new show. At one point, a guy came up and pulled a Hank onesie (Hank is one of my bun bun designs, a green fleece bunny face with long ears) off the rack and began shaking it up and down like he was hopping, I guess. He was shouting, "I'm a hipster baby! I'm a hipster baby!" I thought that was pretty funny.

Check out the pictures on the Brooklyn Indie Market's flickr page. Kathy of fofolle took some great shots of the booth. That link will take you to the first shot of my booth.

My My

I sent out a big order to Taryn of MY MY. She just opened up a brand new storefront selling all the amazing stuff from her website and a lot of newly acquired handmade goods. The shop's in Hatboro, PA. There are six pairs of panties and six baby/toddler items.


She made me that snazzy little button there on the left to add to my growing "Retail" section. Taryn also has a great online Indie Craft Fair Guide. I'm thrilled to have my stuff at a *real* store, especially one as cool as My My.