Drawer Monsters - Sewn gifts from boys

It's Grandma's birthday and the boys wanted to do something for her.  Older Toad has been drawing reams of monsters so I thought we could combine his current interest in monsters and their love of sewing with something for Grandma.  Everyone likes their drawers to smell nice so the boys made monster sachets.

First I asked older Toad to draw some monsters on to 5" square pieces of paper.  Then we sorted the monsters by which were doable and which were too hard to sew.  I xeroxed his drawings on to multiple sheets of regular paper for pattern pieces.  He cut out his pattern pieces and then pinned those to the colored felt he chose.

I let him use my fabric scissors for this so I sat and watched him.

Then younger Toad and I did all the machine sewing.  I put the presser foot up on a box and let him do the footwork and I did all the steering.  Once we had them stitched up (except for the hole for stuffing) we filled them with lavender and stitched over the last hole.  While we were doing the machine sewing, older Toad was doing the hand sewing of the eyes.

When we chose our monsters we talked about using buttons for eyes.  Once we opened up the sewing box, they were drawn to the sparklies so we used those instead.  I had to finish the hand sewing on the last one as fatigue was setting in.  I thought they all turned out super cute and it was a good project for this week.  Older Toad is sick so we're emphasizing fun over drudgery.  I think Grandma will be happy.

Alien

Dogbite

Squidhead

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Alternative to Montessori Dressing Frames

Dressing frames are a great teaching tool, however having a whole set is both space and money consuming.  Outside of a preschool environment it can be hard to justify for just one kid.  Some time ago I made up this substitute for older toad.  I thought it would be a great thing to take on a flight across the country; light, space efficient, cheap if lost and fun.  While it was certainly those first three, toad wasn't very interested.  The only thing that taught him how to dress himself was a lot of patience on our part and time.

Fast forward three years later and we're at the same place with younger toad.  However, he actually thinks using this is kind of fun to learn about these things.

This is too long to fit in a regular picture but starting on the left there is:  velcro, a zipper, lacing, buttons, hooks and eyes and finally snaps.

Some of these things are hard to do for a beginner.  However, if you went to the library and got a basic sewing book this kind of project is a great one to learn on.  It's super cheap since the materials can be leftovers, it doesn't have to fit anyone special, and no one will notice any sewing mistakes.

"Fork You! I will not use my napkin."

As chief laundry wench I get tired of watching my toads smear their greasy little everythings all over their clothes.  I also don't seem to have enough room in my cupboard to keep enough adult sized fabric napkins for their prolific messes and I hate disposable paper products.

So 1 free afternoon and voila, 16 napkins!

I'd gone into my sewing box to get out some materials for mending my go to art apron.  In the box was an old jammy onsesie both the toads had worn.  It was super cute, flannel and somehow they looked like little winter bunnies in it.  I'd kept it to turn it into something.  Who knew what but several years later it was still there.  That morning daddy toad and I had a napkin talk and so I looked at it with napkins on the mind and off I went.

Upon the return of the toads I got an unsolicited "Thank you for the napkins mommy.  They're really nice." and, "The napkins are awesome."  Who knew all it took was fabric scraps to get such manners and compliments.

If you'd like to make your own, they're super easy.  Cut out a rectangle of heavier fabric like flannel or soft canvas.  Cut another of the same size in a contrasting fabric.  Sew the pieces together, right sides out with two passes of zig zag stitch.  Add a pocket - that's the key to the napkin love.  Cut a small rectangle approximately 3" x 5", turn 1/2" seam allowance to the inside.  Press with hot iron.  Position the pocket so that one of your forks sits fully on the napkin rather than over the top edge.  Topstich the pocket to the napkin.

You can also do all of the above with a finished edge.  Before you sew the two pieces together, press in a 1/2" seam allowance.  Pin and stitch edges and then add your pocket.

A slightly fancier version involves a rectangle of the heavier fabric and a rectangle of the contrasting fabric cut 1" bigger on all sides.  With right sides out, center the smaller piece on the contrasting color.  Fold 1/2" in and press.  Turn that fold in and press.  Zig zag the fold down and you've got a bordered napkin.  Add your pocket.  I wouldn't win any tailoring prizes with these as I was focusing on quantity rather than quality so if you have sewing skills please apply those to the directions.

Older toad is now old enough to share his own opinions of your work.  He commented on how my work was a creative use of throw away materials which I really appreciated that he noticed.  There's a couple of books we have along the theme of "you can always make something out of nothing".  The first being the source of that quote - Simms Taback's Joseph Had a Little Overcoat.


Another book I appreciate is Handmade Home by Amanada Blake Soule.  This book is several years old and has been well reviewed but my personal input is along the lines of this blog post.  I really appreciate the repurposing of materials that she encourages.

So if you've got scraps laying around they can always be turned into hugs!

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