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….

Instead of wax poetic about the banner, I will talk about how lucky I feel. As I was zipping down the road after dinner, headed to the post office to ship this little birthday treat, I realized that I love where I am. The panoramic view of the ocean that hits me when I drive out of our little street and onto the main intersection, the fact that the weather is such that I can wear a skirt, tank top and flips right now, and that I get to stay at home with my Petunia and be creative lightened my spirit this evening. There are things in my life that are almost unbearably difficult sometimes but they aren’t right now. Right now I feel lucky. I AM lucky. And I will remember that the roller-coaster always goes back up after it goes down when I “forget” how lucky I am.

I hope that you feel lucky today, too.

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.

I’ve listed it as a custom item in the shop and I’d love to do one for you! Check them out

It was fun to see this one come together…

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…