Last Thursday she said “Mommy, I want a WordGirl costume.” No problem. “Today.” she says. Well, okay, let’s see what I can do. Never one to shy away from a creative challenge, we hit the thrift stores to see what we could find, hoping to find a pair of red long johns that would be perfect for the costume. Of course they were not to be found. But we did find a red shirt that would be workable (and a fabulous bright turquoise scarf totally unrelated to WordGirl that she could not live without, of course). We headed home and during nap time I created that base of the outfit, the WordGirl shirt that she has been living in since its’ creation and a pair of WordGirl boots out of fleece. We had a pair of pants that were perfect already in her closet and, on a trip to the fabric store the next day, I found a yellow satin remnant that would be perfect for a cape. I quickly fashioned a cape yesterday morning while she was playing with The Daddy and voila! WordGirl costume:

She is thrilled and, seriously, has worn this thing every day. Now to figure out how to get her to let me wash it…any ideas? I’m thinking I’ll need to sneak it out of her room at night….

Now to attach the binding and make the loops! Coming soon…

These are a great, eco-friendly way to celebrate! I’m also going to make some without lettering for room decor. There are so many cute prints to choose from…that will be the hardest part.

I’m starting on the first one that I’ll offer in my shop tonight! These are so cute I want to make 10 of them!

I started by wrapping the fabric around the seat cushion and pinning it. I traced a line about 1 inch outside of the pins to give myself a seam allowance and a little wiggle room since this is the first slip cover I have made. I cut along the line, sewed the seams and created an envelope-style closure at the back. One tricky part is that the seat cushion has two little strips with Velcro at the back that wrap around the spindles on the chair back to hold the seat cushion on. I found a way around this with the envelope enclosure. I angled the fabric so that the fabric would leave room for the strips. Sewed lengths of Velcro on the enclosure so it would stay closed.

The back cushion was a little more tricky but still do-able. It has those same type of strips on the upper part of the cushion that wrap around the spindles to hold it in place so, I measured where they were, made button holes big enough for them to fit through, and there you have it! I used the same type of Velcro’d envelope enclosure for the back cushion. Easy to take off and wash!

As a bonus, I created a zippered pillow cover for a lumbar pillow that I had been using that now clashed with the new “throne”. The great thing about this project is that I used all materials that I already had! I love it when I can do that.

Here are a few pics of the progress of the project:

My computer apparently doesn’t like the photo of the step where you turn one leg (sleeve) inside out, put the other leg right side out into the inside out leg and sew the crotch seam. It won’t upload it from my camera. But that’s what would go here!

Then you put your elastic in the waist, attaching a safety pin to thread it through the opening you have left in the waistband. Sew the elastic together, sew the opening shut and voila!

I was starting with an old, tired gray hoodie sweater that had a zipper. First: cut off zipper.

Second: cut off under the arms so that you have a “sweater rectangle”.

Third: put cut edges together with right sides together, ready to be sewn into a tube. Sew them together using a zig-zag stitch.

Fourth: fold over cut edge (the one you cut right under the arms) with a thin hem and sew with a zig-zag stitch, stretching it as you go. This makes a ruffled effect. This looks best if your thread matches your sweater really well. The dark gray sweater I used was very forgiving. I forgot to take a picture of this step…sorry!

Fifth: fold over the finished bottom edge of your original sweater to make the waistband. I folded it over around 1 inch but you can eyeball it and use whatever measurement you’re comfortable with. Sew with a straight or zigzag stitch, leaving an opening to insert your elastic.

Sixth: attach small safety pin to elastic and thread through waistband. I used my daughter’s waist measurement minus an inch because every time I use her waist measurement, things fall off. Not sure what’s going on there, just telling you what works for me! Sew the ends of the elastic together and sew the opening of the waistband shut.

And there you have it! Petunia is wearing the sweater-skirt with the leggings that I made from the sleeves of the same sweater. I’m posting that very, very easy tutorial tomorrow because, in all honesty, it took more time to edit pics and write this post than it did to make both the skirt and leggings!

Stay tuned tomorrow for the leggings…so fun and easy! Petunia says “Mommy, they’re from your sleeves!”. This really tickles her…

Here is whipup.net’s take on the sweater-skirt

I love, love, LOVE the ruffley-ness on the bottom!

Crafting a Green World has this take on the sweater-skirt.

Again with the wavy ruffles…love them! And the vibrant colors in her picture gives me all kinds of fun ideas…

The tutorial for the kiddo leggings by way of adult sweater is here .

Well, I’ve done it again…I’m up past my bed time contemplating, writing about, and doing crafty stuff. Going to go get some sleep so as to have the energy to keep up with Petunia as we troll the thrift store for sweaters tomorrow! Happy crafting!:)

Just in time to be put in Petunia’s stocking by “Santa”. Along with Christmas Bunny, of course.

Now I just need to finish binding that quilt before Thursday…

Our pajama tops are just gray thermal tops but I used gray jersey knit for the duck’s instead because that’s what I had in my stash. When cutting out the pajama pants from the remnants left over from my and Petunia’s pj’s, I realized that there was this long triangle shape at one end. It looked like it might fit as a night cap for the duck so I cut another one and voila! Night cap a la ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas! She is so excited that he has pajamas that match ours and I’m so grateful that I can create memories like this for her.