Patternmaking

I've been playing with a bit of patternmaking lately.

A few Christmases ago I received Patternmaking for Fashion Design, but didn't have a lot of time to play with it. The basic blocks take a bit of calculation. Nothing major, but I'd been biking a bit and losing baby-weight and didn't want to put a lot of time into making my own blocks, just to have them change before I got to sew up some clothes.

Recently, however, I came across an article talking about some new open source pattern-making software. I played with Valentina a bit, but I was really drawn towards the Tau Meta Tau Project. Susan, from TMTP is currently working on Valentina as well, so I expect the whole thing will be quite awesome in a year or two.

I'm not patient, though, and don't mind a bit of hacking, so I've been making TMTP do what I want it to and have had quite a bit of fun with it. All I've done so far is make the basic bodice, skirt, and dress blocks, but in the process, I've done quite a bit of work to get things more streamlined for myself. Also, I had to find a new source for pattern blocks, because, having done all of this work, I wanted to be able to share! So I did some research and came across a wonderful, copyright expired book by Esther Pivnick, that had been scanned by The Perfect Nose.

Anyways, the basic idea is, once you've got the extensions saved, you open Inkscape, load and extension, enter your measurements, and you have a block custom fit to your body. If you don't want to bother with your measurements, it can also load up standard sizes, but then it isn't quite so perfect.

If you want to play with it yourself, click on the "Open Source Patternmaking" link at the top of the page, or go here.

It's raining diaper wipes!

Finally got around to posting pictures of a baby shower gift I put together a month or so ago. Some friends of mine are expecting a little girl at the end of the month and are planning to use cloth diapers. I am a big fan of the cloth diapers and when I was researching them for my daughter, I came across the concept of flannel diaper wipes. I think they are brilliant! I've never been a big fan of the disposable wipes that are slippery and kind of icky (though I do consent to using them for the diaper bag).

These flannel wipes feel nicer and do a better job of cleaning up a dirty diaper. They are also great for giving morning and evening sponge baths. They are simple to make and are a great use for scrap flannel. It is better if your flannel is pre-shrunk, but if you don't care about having your wipes end up different sizes then it doesn't really matter.

Cut all of your scraps into 4" x 7" pieces. You'll want two pieces for every diaper wipe. Pair up all of your pieces and do a tight zig-zag stitch around the outside, staying close to the edge. I usually set my stitch length to 1 and my width to 5. The shorter your stitch length, the less the edges will unravel in the wash, but it doesn't really matter, as all the loose ends will come out within about five washes anyway.

To make the wipe solution, you just need a 1:2 ratio of water to witch hazel. This means that you split one bottle of witch hazel up into three bottles and top them all off with water. Maddy likes the wipe warmer, too, though it isn't necessary. If you want one, I recommend the Prince Lionheart Warmer without the antibacterial insert.The wipes fit well within it and if you make them twice as wide you can even fold the wipes together and pull them through the top. You will want to make sure you always have plenty of solution though, as the bottom wipes will burn if they get dry.

Not enough time to build it yourself? Buy it from my store!

A Gym for Maddy

I dislike flashing, singing toys with a passion. It's not that I mind the noise. When Maddy is old enough, I'll happily provide her with some pots and the wooden spoons to bang on them. I just don't like it when the noise keeps going after the child is done with the toy. Or even worse, the toy yells after the child like a salesman trying to regain someone's attention. Thus, my dilemma when I headed out to the store to buy Maddy a gym to hang toys from. Any gym that looked any good contained flashing lights and sounds. Sure, I could take the batteries out, but why would I pay extra for something I actively dislike. So I decided to save money build my own gym. And like any good crafter I went to the internet for inspiration.

This is the only thing I could find: How to make a baby gym. I wanted something a little fancier, but that was inspiration enough. I went to the store and bought the following (everything is for 1/2" PVC):

1 cross connector
8 forty-five degree connectors
4 ninety degree connectors
2 eight foot pipes

I cut the pipe into the following pieces:

8 one-inch pieces
4 eighteen-inch pieces
2 twenty-five and three-eighths inch pieces

I used the one inch pieces to connect my connectors to each other. Each ninety degree connector got paired with a forty-five degree connector. The four remaining forty-five degree connectors were attached to the cross connector.


And then I assembled the gym into a pyramid shape. This ended up being a bit smaller than I wanted, but I haven't settled on a final size yet, so I'll write more when the project is complete.

The best part was making the cloth to cover the PVC. I raided my ribbon stash to create loops every two inches or so. I also found all sorts of nice fabrics and buttons to sew into the bottom of the legs so that Maddy has lots of different textures and shapes to keep herself entertained.

I still need to cover the bottom and create a fantastic playmat for it to sit on, but as you can see from the picture up top, the new gym is a hit with the kiddo.

Cables, Grandmothers and a Lesson in Communication

Last fall, I successfully completed my first knitting project with cables. Not one to follow patterns, I created this cute red hat in the round by making it up as I went along. That's what made what happened later so much fun!

My husband and I went to Amsterdam to celebrate the new year later that winter. Not wanting to be completely ignorant American tourists, we prepared for the trip by listening to some dutch language CDs and borrowing a dictionary from the library. For the most part, they were completely unnecessary, as almost everything is written in Dutch and English.

Then came the train ride home from our visit to Den Hague and the cute little grandmother sitting across from us. Shortly into our ride she accosted me and started asking me about my hat. In Dutch. She thought it was the cutest thing and wanted to make one for her granddaughter. From there followed the most amusing (and complex) discussion of knitting I have ever had. She poked at it, I held up fingers and tried to remember my dutch numbers. She asked questions and I pointed some more. Luckily, my dictionary contained the translation for 'knit.' Finally, I succeeded in writing out directions involving knitting, opposite knitting (alas, the dictionary could not hope to contain purl), and braiding (I didn't want to rely on cable translating correctly). So hopefully, there is some Dutch girl somewhere wearing my hat.

Birds on a Wire

Maddy's room needed some fun curtains to go with the new paint job. I prefer to let a lot of light in the house, even when there is a need for privacy. Thus, I'm really fond of top-down bottom-up curtains. They are even easy to make, once you understand the concepts. I didn't manage to take pictures of the process on the these curtains, but when I finally get around to making the curtains for our bedroom, I'll be sure to write up some detailed instructions.

I picked out a fabulous shade of bright yellow and set my husband to work on the design. He decided that birds on a wire would be the best and we both wanted the curtains to look a bit different from each other. Once he had the template created and drawn onto the curtains, I got out my embroidery hoop and went to work. I think the final project looks rather stellar.