No Naked Bears

So, Christmas has come and gone and Build a Bear Workshop was a  part of ours ;)  However, anyone who knows me  knows I am not paying what they want for clothing for these guys.  And my girlie wanted some of those clothes soooo badly. 

This pair of bear pants were only TWO....2....1, 2  two seams!  I used recycled jeans of my daughter's.  They were made a smidge bigger than this bear...but only by a hair ;)  I made them because this is not the creature they are intended for.  My daughter picked out the bulldog (and promptly named her Uga, as any good Georgia peach would).  And Uga is a smidge more pudgy than the average Build a Bear.  So, these directions might be give-or-take about 1/4 inch here or there.  Not too hard to manage when you are sewing too big and NOT too small ;)

Here is my template

Here we go with the tutorial....in as many pictures as possible!!

 I lined up the hems of an old pair of jeans with the bottom of my pattern piece.  This means no hemming required!  Easy Peasy!!

Lay the pattern piece (which is meant to be placed ON a FOLD) on the fold of the outer leg seam.  I slit my inseam so that it would lie flat.

The hem of my jeans are exactly on the bottom edge of my pattern piece.

 And outer seam is lying flush with the edge of pattern piece.  Pin then cut.

 This is what it should look like :)

 Repeat.  These jeans were purchased with embellishments already applied, so if you'd like something nifty on yours, apply it now!

 With the right sides together, fold each piece in half and pin.....

 then stitch.

 Turn ONE of them right side out.

 And slide that one inside the other to match up crotch seam

 Pin.

 Great time to remove this extra plate if you have a removeable one!

 Stitch the crotch..and it will look like

 this!

 Turn under about a 1/2" waist band.  PRESS.

 It will look like this.

 Stitch all the way around it, except for about 1 1/2 ".

 If you have a bodkin with which to thread your elastic through, use it.  Otherwise a safety pin will work just fine.  This piece of elastic is not the best one for this project..it just turned out to be all I had, after destroying my notions box.  Sooo....anyhow.....it is about 16"-18" long...

 When it comes through to the other side, pin it then size it on your bear.

 While I was sizing, I marked (with disappearing ink) where the tail slit will go.

 Once you've sized the elastic on your bear and pinned it at the size it should be...

 stitch it together

 and then complete the waistband stitch, which encloses the elastic!

 Ripping out the tail slit..

Thought it needed a bit more than I originally marked

 Stitched around it in buttonhole shape..NOT with the buttonhole stitch. Although you could, if you wanted to, but I don't expect these to last forever so I'm not putting a ton of effort into tiny details!!

 Here's my guy!

I can't figure out how to rotate this picture, so I won't worry about it now!

Thrifty Re-Do Coming Soon.

I thought this was cute.  My 12 year old  daughter severely disagreed.  It's now wadded up in a drawer.  I will rework it for my other daughter.  And she'll like it. :)

Thrifty Re-do: Denim Cutoffs Turn into Girls' Skirt

My older daughter recently found a pair of jeans that she needed to give up and cut off just to wear as shorts. By the way, my children think cut-offs are fabulous!  I just couldn't throw the bottoms of those jeans away, though.  I hate to waste perfectly good fabric just due to sizing.

So, I took my seam ripper and did some reworking and now I have the cutest skirt for my younger daughter, for just the cost of my time, elastic and the few scraps that I used to accessorize it. 

Here's the tutorial:

First, I slit the non-topstitched side seam, usually the inner thigh seam.  I did not cut it open, only ripped the seam to allow the fabric to remain intact so that I had the most fabric available for size.

Then, open up both pieces and  match them together, right sides together.  I pinned from the hem back up toward the waistline. Pin and stitch.

I added a little patch here on the inside, just to keep one of the holes from getting to far out of control :)

Also, I turned under the waistline, pinned and stitched as you would for any simple skirt pattern.   Elastic is next and stitch closed.

This is what I drummed up to accent the front of the skirt. I attached it by hand by stitching through the button down through the denim. I made about 4 stitches and secured the threads off inside the skirt. Of course, you could do whatever you desire on this part, or nothing at all!

And here's the finished product, minus my elastic. 

Re-Treasures: Hand Me Downs and Redos

I love repurposing things...it just goes without saying that it is a bit of an extreme hobby for me.  I try to keep balance, but that term is relative in this type of situation.

1.  Bought sheet to make chair cover for daughter's vanity chair.  Loved it.

2.  Used leftovers to create this simple skirt of other daughter.  Loved it.

3.  Used embroidery piece from stained capri pants to accent.

4.  Used hand me down fabric to create shorts (ran out of elastic for waistband..will put it on my list).  Love them.  They could even be worn under skirt above for modesty.
5.  Used hand-me-down trim from mother-in-law to trim hems for a  simple, feminine look.  Love it.

Thrifty Re-do: Terry Bathtowel---Swiffer Towels

                                                  
I've never claimed to be green or crunchy or any of those things...but I have been being accused of it more and more lately. I am just one who uses what she has to serve the purpose at hand. So, this was the problem: the floor was so bad I couldn't stand it any longer. It seemed unthinkable at the time to load up the crew to head to the store for only a few things. Baby wipes would have taken too long and my back didn't seem excited about the hands-n-knees method. So, off I went to scrounge around in my sewing room (AKA: dumping ground). And, once again, voila'! Success....now these are not cute. They are actually unsightly at this point, but they work. And they wash. And they go again. And I don't have to add it to my grocery list, either! After more than 40 washes, I'm sure, these are still workin' out for me.

I just took the old towel that had been sentenced to the rag bin and cut it up into 9 X 14 rectangles and there you have it! Do you know how many of these you can get out of one old towel????


                                                            

They stay in a basket near the cleaning stuff and are just referred to as 'cleaning cloths.' That is because we use them for many other things and they wash just as well. No glass cleaning wipes or any other of the style of cleaning products. They are good for dusting, windows/glass, general stuff such as cabinets and baseboards, etc. But, we only use one per job. After a use, they go in the wash basket. We don't mix cleaners !





Just a thrifty note for ya!

Molly’s Money Saving Digest - November

    
The November, 2010 issue of Molly's Money Saving Digest, was just in time to get my wheels turning about the important things of the holiday season. I am already in thinking and planning mode so that my family has a rich holiday season. Many of the articles and helpful hints had not even crossed my mind yet for this year. But, they are a gentle reminder to me of how to create a festive atmosphere in my home and in my heart.
For my kitchen, there were wonderful recipes, complete with the shopping list to go with them (can you say, timesaver!) If you are new or interested in freezer cooking, there's a dash of that thrown in, too. It isn't all about me, though. I was encouraged with all the information on manners and etiquette for children. Place settings and being a gracious, welcomed guest don't come easy to our little ones. We have to train them in this, too. I do not know if my children will attend a formal dinner party this season, but they can be attend right here at home. Tea time would be a great time to work on this, I think. To invite my family to my table and see their hearts and eyes gleaming with celebratory peace this season.
I am a list person and enjoy organization. Lots of things in this issue called out to me. As many homeschooling mothers would be, the list of important dates to remember this month inspired me to think about potential unit study ideas. And the poem on the first few pages stood out to me as potential copywork and/or memorization exercise right at my fingertips. But, I can't help myself with those types of things, they just come to mind without my giving permission. There is also plenty of organization, decluttering and other ideas that make it so easy to take the lead in creating a masterful celebration of the seasons approaching. I tried my hand at beautifying my table:

(Disclaimer: I inherited none of the interior decorating gene)
Yes, there's financial encouragement and frugal ideas abound. There are plenty of inks and ideas. However, I felt the most value was in turning my heart and hands' work toward my home and those within the walls. It helped me to think of the many things I file away in my "to do" folder in my mind. Molly was a reminder to bring them forth for my family to join in with me to celebrate this time of this year.


I was provided the November 2010 issue of Molly's Money-Saving Digest, in exchange for my review.