Eighteen Eclipse Buntings in Thirty Days

Because it's very important to teenagers that you stay humble, my own teenager was quick to inform me that, despite the unexpected and fleeting popularity of my handmade eclipse buntings in my Pumpkin+Bear etsy shop, I was not, and likely never would be, "viral."

Whatever. I still enjoyed my brief moment in the #girlboss sun!

I also finally finished The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel while I sewed, ending up with exactly 8 minutes left in the series finale at the moment that I cut the last thread on my last bunting, so that's yet another big accomplishment.

Now I'm watching that Duggar documentary series while I sew marble maze fidgets, and hoo-boy is THAT a wild ride! I did watch that show back in the day, when I was more entertained by secondhand cringe than I am now, although my REAL secondhand cringe favorite was Jon and Kate + 8. I could still happily endlessly chew over every single one of those episodes, snarking away about all the horrible adults. Remember the time that the family got a free trip to Disney World and then they got free ice cream and Kate wouldn't let the kids eat it? Or when they got the free trip to the Crayola Crayon hands-on place and she wouldn't let them do most of the activities? I'm STILL made on the kids' behalf!

I definitely didn't do any of the things that I probably should have done when blessed with a suddenly popular (not viral! Never say viral, at least not to a teenager!) listing. I'm pretty sure I should have done... something to further market or build on or... something. So maybe I didn't exactly #girlboss after all, lol. Oh, well! I mostly gave up my #handmade #girlboss dreams back when I gave up craft fairs.

Sewing all those bunting orders was really fun while it lasted, though! 

P.S. I actually wrote a tutorial for this bunting, so you can make your own!

P.P.S. Want to follow along with my craft projects, books I'm reading, road trips to weird old cemeteries, looming mid-life crisis, and other various adventures on the daily? Find me on my Craft Knife Facebook page!

Three New Ballet Skirts, or, It's So Fun To Sew with Slippery Fabrics /s

 

The world of children's ballet is a Whole Thing, y'all. And I'm not even talking about the body politics or the stresses of casting or the superb posture training. My teenager has danced in the same pre-college ballet program since the age of approximately four, and so you'd think the uniform would be pretty standard. Leotard, tights, and shoes, and you can even skip the tights if you're dancing Russian-style.

But no. Every year, and sometimes every semester, is just a new, annoying way to spend my money because these people cannot seem to make up their minds about how they'd like the children to dress! At one point in time, several ages wore the same leotard color, so that switching to a new leo color was a momentous achievement. Then they decided that every level should have its own color. Annoying to buy all new leotards each year, but at least there was something of a resale market. Then they decided that kids could only wear camisole-style leotards, so we all had to go buy new ones. Then they kept everything the same for a year, which was cool, but in the last month of classes decided that the kids should wear a completely different color of leotard and ballet skirt just for the recital--here, by the way, is that white leotard and skirt that my kid wore exactly once. Then they decided that you could wear any style of leotard you wanted as long it was the right color, but they had two different levels wearing two different colors of green, and do you know how hard it is to tell online if a leotard is more mint green or forest green (this one is neither mint NOR forest, it was determined)? And don't even get me started about the level that had to wear "grey"--Friends, there are a lot of greys in the world! Then there was a year in which they did uniform by ages but grouped several ages into a single class, and that's how we discovered that my teenager is the only teenager exactly her age in the program, because she got to be the only black leotard in a sea of burgundy, and guess how much she did not love that.

Over the years we've gone from kids can wear ballet skirts to every class (everyone bought SO MANY skirts) to kids can never wear them ever (after, of course, everyone had bought and owned and loved 4-6 different skirts) to now kids can wear them on Saturdays. I think. For now.

My teenager is, as you might imagine if you've ever known somebody who submitted daily to a strict dress code, thrilled by the upcoming Ballet Skirt Saturdays. Because I can never just buy something and be done with it, I found this pattern for an asymmetrical SAB-style ballet skirt from DsSewingPatterns on etsy, ran it by the teenager, she approved, and then I bought it and we went fabric shopping.

Because fabric shopping is the funnest part!

Four-way stretch isn't really my jam, nor is sewing thin, slippery mesh and tulle, but the teenager had a fabulous time picking out a few fabrics to try, and she was so excited to have me sew them up for her that she literally stood next to the table as I worked, just, like, watching me stitch while listening to my Dolls of Our Lives podcast. I felt very attended to! 

Luna helped, too:

Fortunately, this is one of the best, easiest, and most straightforward patterns I've ever used. The magic is in the cut, which, as you can see if you look closely at the template below, IS asymmetrical!

This means that you can wear it truly asymmetrical, with one side longer, or the way my teenager likes it, with the longer part at the booty for a little more coverage.

The photo below is technically my muslin, although I have a Depression-era fear and loathing (thanks, Mamma and Pappa!) of wasting fabric, so I got the teenager to choose something on clearance that she would still reluctantly wear. She's got those October Saturdays pinned down now!

I did alter the pattern quite a bit in length after sewing this muslin, which is why you should always sew a muslin. Fortunately, the saving grace of this thin, slippery, asshole fabric is that at least it doesn't ravel, so I could just trim the bottom to my preferred length and didn't even have to hem it, hallelujah.

That spiderweb fabric also worked out perfectly when turned inside-out to make the black waistband on this, the most glorious of all ballet skirts:

My teenager and I are absolutely enamored with this skirt. To be honest, she's probably not gonna wear any of the others as long as this one is around. It's a sheer black mesh with these flowers and sequins appliqued on it, and it. Is. Stunning. Now imagine it in motion!

I'm just going to show you a few more close-up photos of it, I'm so proud of it:

Y'all aren't going to believe this, but over winter break the pre-college ballet department reorganized the levels AGAIN, so after having all the kids in my kid's class wearing black leotards all semester, even the ones who were technically supposed to wear burgundy, and me thinking that my kid was going to be wearing black leotards six days a week for the next two years and therefore buying her even more black leotards for Christmas, now they've decided that everyone should go back to... BURGUNDY. You know, the color that LITERALLY NOBODY WORE LAST SEMESTER. BECAUSE THEY WERE ALL WEARING BLACK. A CLASS FULL OF KIDS WHO NOW OWN SEVERAL BLACK LEOTARDS THAT FIT, AND THEY WANT THEM TO BUY SIX DAYS' WORTH OF BURGUNDY LEOTARDS INSTEAD. JUST FOR THE SECOND SEMESTER OF THE EXACT SAME CLASS FULL OF THE EXACT SAME CHILDREN.

I participated in the Great Burgundy Leotard Scramble of 2019, and I am not going back to that nightmare scenario of battling every other parent in the class for the, like, five burgundy leotards, total, that exist in the world--burgundy is not a popular leotard color for the ballet world at large!!! They can put whatever they want on their dress code, but they have pushed me, personally, too far. I bought my teenager a shit ton of black leotards back in August, and a shit ton more black leotards over Christmas, and two shit tons of black leotards is what she will be wearing to class next semester whether they like it or not. 

Sigh. Do you want to make bets on how many classes until I cave?

My Latest over at Pumpkin+Bear: The Cutest Custom-Color Doll Masks

Even after I stopped selling real-person fabric masks in my Pumpkin+Bear etsy shop (I switched the kids and I over to these, and Matt prefers this style in whatever brand is cheapest), I keep making and selling doll masks, because:

1. People still want to buy them from me, and I do enjoy exchanging my goods and services for currency.
2. Even though I think a lot of people have also switched to high-quality manufactured masks, if you want a mask for your doll, you're still going to need someone to make it for you by hand. 
3. They're ADORABLE.

Number 3, of course, is the most important reason. 

Here's a cute matching set that I made a few weeks ago:

And here's my latest order of custom-color doll masks! My favorite part of making these masks is seeing what color combinations people choose. This particular customer, for instance, chose these fabrics--

--along with these ties:

And when I sewed them together in the requested combinations, I got these adorable doll masks!

That watermelon mask is the cutest mask that currently exists in the world. 

And here's how I package my masks to go out and about into that world!

If you are a sewer, yourself, I do have the entire doll mask tutorial for free on my blog. It's the responsibility of all of us to keep our dolls healthy!

I've gotten out of the habit of sewing matching items for my own kids' American Girl dolls, since I'm the only one who plays with them these days (ahem), but I'm pretty sure that I DO need to make another couple of watermelon doll masks.

And obviously, if I'm going to make watermelon doll masks, I clearly have to make both dolls entire watermelon outfits to match!

Tutorial: DIY Watercolor Business Cards

This tutorial was originally posted in Crafting a Green World back in 2017.

 I have a small handmade business, and it's important to me to use handmade, eco-friendly business cards for it. 

That doesn't mean that I LIKE to make business cards--it's tedious, you have to make, like, a thousand at a time, and all you're going to do is give them away so you can't even enjoy them AND you have to go and make a thousand more, sigh... 

 So I am a huge fan of handmade business cards that take as little time as possible to make. And these watercolor business cards may be the quickest! I cheated a little with these cards, as I usually prefer to hand-cut my business cards from recycled cardboard, such as cardboard food packaging or old record album covers. But I scored a half-used stash of these Avery business card sheets (thank you, Freecycle!), and the fact that these cards are white, for a change, is what makes this tutorial work. 

 To make your own watercolor business cards, you will need: 

  white heavy cardstock or business card printer sheets. If you don't mind seeking out one store-bought supply, these printer sheets made for business cards are the poop! Get the kind that are uncoated and come away with clean edges, and your life will be so easy. Otherwise, look for a super-heavy cardstock or upcycle some thin cardboard that's been bleached white. 

  watercolors. You can use solid watercolor palettes and a paintbrush, but in these pics I'm using liquid watercolors, both in miniature spritz bottles and with eyedroppers. Yes, we ARE still using this DIY liquid watercolor spray paint that I first set up for my kids six years ago! 

  printed or stamped business card information. You could print your business card info onto the back of your sheets, but I use this customizable stamp set for all of my handmade business cards. 

 1. Watercolor your business cards. I spritzed a little paint onto my business card sheets as a background, then used an eyedropper to add more drops of color. I let some colors bleed into each other, and I inclined some of the pages so that the colors would run. Just go for randomness and let the chaos take control! My darker colors, when dropped heavily, left a very light shadow on the backside, where I'm going to put my business information. I like this effect, as it carries over the watercolor theme, but if you're using a different type of paper than I am, you might want to test it first to see how much color the backside shows. As you're working, you're going to think that what you're doing does NOT look cute. Just carry on--I promise it'll look cuter in a minute! Leave the pages to dry. 

 2 Seal the card fronts (optional). If you're going to use these cards at craft fairs or otherwise out and about, give them a quick coat of your clear sealant of choice, and let them dry. Watercolor is water-soluble (duh!), so you wouldn't want a customer to pick up your business card, walk out into the rain, and then get paint all over their hands. 

3. Separate the business cards. Don't they look a LOT cuter now? The chaos of the random watercoloring translates very well to a small canvas. I especially like how the color carries over to the edge of the cards, so that they look pretty even from the side. 

 4. Add your business information. If you didn't print your business information onto the printer sheet, then add it on now to the backside of the cards. This leaves the front side as its own miniature work of abstract art!

Prints and Patterns Rainbow Fibonacci Placemats for Pumpkin+Bear

 

Because you know I can't leave well enough alone, nor make one single iteration of a project when fourteen different iterations would be more obsessive.

I LOVE my solid color rainbow Fibonacci placemats, and use them every day. But I couldn't get the idea out of my head of the same placemat done in rainbow prints and patterns, or rather, multiples of the same placemat, all with a different combination of prints and patterns.

It satisfies my love of chaos without nearly as much assault on the eyeballs as usually occurs when I get hold of more than two colors at the same time. It also pings that spot in my brain that's obsessed with mathematical patterns, now that the kids are both so busy studying for end-of-year exams that they've got little time to do weird and involved math projects with me.

I LOVE how these placemats look!

I love them in combination with each other--

--and in combination with my solid color rainbow Fibonacci placemats:

Spots likes them, too, so much so that she even helped me with my photo shoot!

These made-to-order prints and patterns rainbow Fibonacci placemats are now listed in my Pumpkin+Bear etsy shop. You order them, and I'll sew them up for you with your very own, unique combination of rainbow prints and patterns!

I think I'm going to make a rainbow Fibonacci quilt next!

New for Summer on Pumpkin+Bear: Doll Candles, and Face Masks for Everyone (Including Dolls!)

The only thing that hurts my pandemic-sore heart more than seeing a child's doll in a face mask is seeing that child, herself, in one:

But if they've got to wear them, they're going to be as sturdy and well-sewn as I can make them, and as close to as exactly what the children want as I can manage.

I don't know if I've ever spent that much time getting a pattern absolutely, exactly right. It's an improvement even over the elastic face masks that I was also super happy with, until the elastic started bothering my ears and I decided that the side seams needed more of a finished look.

As usual, bias tape to the rescue! These face masks with bias tape ties aren't quite as grab-and-go as the elastic ones, but even so, tying the ties only takes a few seconds, and these masks are much more forgiving in fit. Syd, for instance, had to have my original elastic band mask adjusted to fit her, but she can easily wear these bias tape face masks in both the Big Kid size, which is that hot pink mask she's modeling in these photos, and the Adult size, which is what I actually sewed for her.

Black on black, of course.

And here's her doll's mask to match, now listed in my Pumpkin+Bear etsy shop, where you can choose to have me make your doll a face mask in your favorite colors, too!

Will is, in fact, modeling her own mask, sewn in the exact colors she requested, and here's HER doll's matching mask:

Sisters!

It can be tricky to make proportions look correct in doll sizes, so I'm pleased that the bias tape that I'm using looks good with both human and doll masks--

--and since I'm working only in solid colors, not patterns, I don't have to worry about prints looking oversized on the dolls.

Here's my assistant and costume designer at work:

And then I snookered Matt into modeling my Adult mask, grey on navy, and additionally snookered him into letting Syd gel his hair for the photos:

I sew the human face masks, also available in custom colors in my Pumpkin+Bear shop, in three sizes, to better fit all the humans I can think of. I've got Adult masks--

--Big Kid masks that I think should work for most kids ages 7-12 (and older, as you can see!)--

--and Little Kid masks that I think should fit most kids who are old enough to wear a mask through at least age seven:

My etsy listings include all of my exact measurements, though, and so whenever possible, I recommend that you measure your human first.

I'm sewing all of my masks, human and doll, as custom orders, which means that when you order you can pick the exact color of bias tape (a poly/cotton blend)--

--and exact color of mask fabric (100% cotton):

The bias tape and fabric match closely, so you can go completely monochrome if you want, but the mask is double-sided (and reversible!), and there are two sets of bias tape ties, so if you want a different color for everything, that's a totally reasonable jam and I'll make it for you.

My other new listing is completely unrelated to the pandemic--whee! I was looking through some photos of busy summers back in the Before-Times, and I found a whole photo shoot that I did with Syd while Will was at Space Camp one summer. We had a birthday party for her dolls, wherein she baked and frosted a doll-sized cake, and I made a rainbow of doll-sized candles for it:

It was magical:

Is it possible that I did not understand at the time what a precious and small fairy child I had? I can't have possibly treasured enough my time with this magical little creature. I mean, you guys. She made a TINY BIRTHDAY CAKE. FOR HER DOLLS. AND THEN SERVED IT TO THEM ON DOLL-SIZED DISHES.

I can't even.

A friend and I have this shared fantasy, in which time travel is invented, and we each go back to find ourselves on some hard day we were just about to have with two very young children. You know, one of those days that just dragged on, where the kids kept wanting books read to them and getting all their clothes dirty and you'd trek outside with them to the sandbox and then back in for a snack, get out the play dough and then read fourteen books, tromp them all to the park and then back home for some coloring, and you'd look at the clock to see if it was maybe almost time for your co-parent to get home and see that it was something like 10:00 am and sigh and make another snack.

So, we're each going to show up at our old houses on one of these mornings, and our old selves will of course recognize us, because we're US, just old, and we'll tell our young selves to take the day off, have a nap, order a pizza and eat it while reading a book, etc. And they'll go off to do that, having no problem leaving their kids with us--because, you know, it's US--and we will spend that long, tedious day absolutely treasuring the chance to be with those precious and small fairy children again. We'll read them picture books! And change their tiny little clothes! Dig with them in the sandbox! Make them a plate of cheese cubes and strawberries! It's a win-win situation, ideally to be repeated weekly.

Until time travel is invented, I guess old photographs will have to do. 

Oh, and there are rainbow doll candles now in my Pumpkin+Bear etsy shop.