Lego Sack with Window

Before our vacation, I spent a lot of time gathering books and toys to take with us. I searched for anything portable and with enough substance to keep the 2-year old occupied for "long" stretches of time. She loves legos (it's in the genes on both sides) and seemed ready for the upgrade to the smaller size so I bought the big set of pink Legos from Amazon. Of course we couldn't bring the massive tub with us on the plane so I decided to make a bag for them.

I had seen this amazing drawstring toy sack tutorial on Make it Perfect through Craft Gossip. At the time, I just thought it was very clever. I had no plans to actually make it. But then I bought some Yo Gabba Gabba panties and they came in this nice little pouch. Of course, I threw it away and had to dig it out of the trash when the thought came to me to make a little window out of the vinyl just like in the tutorial.

I wanted something more case-like so I didn't even follow the tutorial at all beyond the inspiration (although that might not have been a bad idea because she uses paperclips to hold the fabric to the vinyl since you can't pin through it. I just fought with it instead). I used Lizzy House's Red Letter Day again with the Pearl Bracelet print and more ducks. The tree stump fabric is by Jay McCarroll, my favorite winner of Project Runway, and grosgrain ribbon for the handles.

This, surprisingly, was not too difficult to make. I had to do a drawing of what I had in my head. Then I added some measurements to that. Then I kind of exploded the drawing and added seam allowances to my edges to figure out what to cut. The bottom has a layer of stabilizer/interfacing in it and I wish I would have used it on all sides because now that the case has seen some use, it's not as stiff as I would like. I expect our Lego collection to outgrow this soon but I'm impressed with it. Even though it is not perfect, I was proud to pull it off.

Oliver + S playsuit

I am now officially obsessed with Oliver + S patterns. This playsuit was an absolute breeze to make. I didn't have any problems cutting it out, putting it together, or stitching it up. It was so well written and easy to follow. The playsuit is part of the Tea Party Sundress pattern and seems more targeted to boys. But since we have enough dresses (for now) and I love rompers, I girled this up with some Lizzy House (pearl bracelet from the Red Letter Day collection) and Michelle Engel Bencsko (pre-Cloud 9 days). Who knew these two fabrics would look so good together? The two collections are radically different but were next to each other in my bin. The peach is a solid I had in my solids bin and is absolutely necessary to break up the two prints. I also used it to make some bias tape edging the hem of the shorts and to line the top.

After my initial problems deciding between buttons or snaps (thanks for all the help), I got over my fear of sewing buttonholes, and finally finished this up. I chose some very pretty little faux-pearl buttons with the scrolly detail.

The pattern had a snap tape option. I had never used snap tape before and I'm not even sure I knew what it was when I started searching for it. I don't have a sewing shop nearby (only quilting and upholstery) so I had to go online. What I saw came in massive quantities and in weird lengths and widths. The amount of space between each snap just didn't make sense. So I made my own (tutorial next week -- I had to test the technique out again).

I am super happy with how this little outfit turned out. My kid (for reasons unknown to us) is rather tall so I made the 2T top but cut the waist for the bottoms at the 3T mark. I'm glad I did this because it allows some room for the bulky cloth diapers for now and will hopefully still fit next year (if only for Spring). Anyway, I've not seen much cuter. I've added a couple of their patterns to my mental to do list. I just need to pick a size. The speed at which I'm working seems to be calling for 4T and up.

Project: Decisions (or, So Much Fabric So Little Time)

I bought some Oliver + S patterns a few weeks ago and realized that I was hoarding them like my cutest cuts of Japanese fabric. Yesterday I decided to break out the Playsuit pattern and go for it. It's sold as part of the Tea Party Sundress set.

Although the samples feature a solid fabric or a solid paired with a print, I really like mixing prints so I got out some of my favorites and starting messing around. How surprising that this Lizzy House Red Letter Day fabric (Pearl Bracelet and Stripes) goes so well with the Michelle Engel Bencsko Shade Garden line (Snail Trail and Sprouts).


So which one do you like the best?

(Playsuit image from the Oliver + S website.)


For more information about Project: Project, read this post.