Hooded Lion Towel

My husband and I are expecting a baby this September. My husband likes lions so I decided to make a lion hooded towel. You can totally skip the lion part of this tutorial and just make a plain old hooded towel. I plan to make a plain one as well.

Here's the final product. I don't have a cute child to model it yet, so the cutting mat with have to do.Want to make your own? You'll need:

• One bath towel
• One hand towel
• Sewing machine, thread, etc.
• Felt (if you plan to make your towel a lion).

Start with your hand towel. Find the middle and cut it in half (I forgot to take a picture of these two steps with my yellow towel...oops). I used a rotary cutter but fabric scissors will do.
Once you cut your towel in half, fold it in half again (hamburger, not hotdog) and grab something round. An embroidery hoop or plate will work. The edge my finger is on is your cut edge, and is the edge you'll be sewing on.
Trace and cut your rounded edge and then sew it together. It doesn't have to be rounded if you don't want it to be. But I don't dig the pointy hood look. It'll look like this. You can see the seam start at the top left corner and follow the curve around to the bottom near the middle.
So now your hood is essentially done. Unless you plan to lion it up. If not, go ahead and skip a few steps.

To make the ears, cut strips of fabric (mine were about two inches wide) out of the remaining part of the hand towel. Sew them down one side to make tubes. Turn your tubes inside out and then sew the sides together so they look like this.
With the rest of the hand towel, I cut two triangles and sewed them to two corners of the bath towel (Be sure to hem that outside edge). This is so the kid can put their little hands in there and hold the towel around themselves. And because I thought it was cute.

**Note: I attached to two triangle pieces after I pleated the towel (steps below). If you do it first, just make sure to pleat the towel on the same edge your little hand holds are...so it'll all be at the top when wrapped around your little one***
Now get your felt. I cut 4 strips of brown felt. Each strip is 5" by 24". Fleece would work too, or a knit that doesn't fray.
Grab two of your brown felt strips, stack them on top of each other, and line them up on what will be the front or brim of the hood. I measured 2 1/2 inches out and then drew a little line on my sewing machine in washable marker so I was sure to sew right down the middle of the strip. You can't tell, in this picture but the right side is lined up with the towel. So your "mane" will start about 2 1/2 inches away from the front of the hood.
It's wise to pin it on. I didn't. I don't like using a lot of pins. My mom would be bugged that I didn't pin though. I did however pin the ears on beneath the brown felt, right where I'd want them (a few inches away from the center seam on both sides). So when I sew the brown felt on, I also am sewing the ears on.
Result:
Fold your felt toward the front of the hood and grab (as pictured). Then grab your next two pieces. Sew those right down the middle (you could do a basting stitch first to make sure you're centered) just behind the first set of felt. Mine ended up being about a quarter inch apart.
Once your 4 felt strips (2 sets of 2) are attached, start clipping them. I cut every inch. Make sure to stay about 1/4 inch away from your seam.
Now, the lion hood is done. On to the bath towel. Grab your towel and find the middle (Marked with a pin).
I wanted my towel pleated. You can skip this if you want to. If you want pleats, measure 4 inches away from your center point on both sides and mark with a pin. I chose 4 because I thought it looked good, feel free to make your pleat larger or smaller.
Fold the towel so the outer pins meet the middle one.

Then pin it in place. Do this to both sides.
It should look like this. Then sew along the edge to keep the pleat in place.
It will look like this on the outside of the towel.
Find the middle of the hood, pin it to the middle of the towel, and attach.

In hind sight, I should have done this next part before I sewed the triangles to the towel, but I decided to sew some felt in the shape of lion paws on. I just drew what the paws on a piece of paper and cut them out to use as a pattern. I then hand sewed them on.
So, there's the hooded lion towel tutorial. I hope it wasn't too confusing. If it was, feel free to contact me and I'll answer any questions.

Recycled Suitcase Chair

I'm in the process of creating an airplane room for our little boy--

he'll be 2 next month!

We've had this old gross dusty cobwebby Samsonite suitcase in storage forever. I don't

even know where it came from. There were a few things in the storage room when

we moved here. Maybe it came with our house?

Anyway--I've held onto it, even though it honestly was disgusting. I did consider

throwing it away. But I knew something good could come from it. And then

I had this GREAT idea! And I totally thought of it all by myself.

This is somewhat of my thought process, "Airplanes...suitcases...go together.

If the suitcase was open and secured...add some cute legs to it...it could totally be a chair!"

Then I Google searched it and found out that I am not the first person to think of it,

but that wasn't going to stop me. Katie Thompson, the designer behind Recreate, makes tons
of these, and they are amazing! (Does that put me in the same category
as hers because I totally thought of this too? I wish!).
But, I wanted mine to be a little different because I wanted my chair to
have a little compartment for Tucker to put his books and stuff in
so it could be a little reading chair.

Here's how I did it.

Yes, that does resemble a bunched up cobweb coming out of the side.

 I ripped all the lining out--check out all that dust! The whole time
I had to cover my face, because of all the dust. Then I scrubbed it down

and "Lysoled" it like crazy.

I found some small chair legs at Lowes for about $1.50 each. They came 

with bolts on them where they would connect to the furniture. I drilled

holes in the suitcase where I wanted the legs to go. Then I screwed them

on and fastened them with nuts.

Hey! Even at this stage it could be a cute little end table or something!

Then my husband and I cut some 2x4s down to fit inside where the seat

would be. We had two pieces laying front to back on each side, and one laying across 

the back. We glued these down with wood glue. We carved notches where the legs

were attached and cut some other areas so the wood would lay flat. 

 We then added some smaller thinner strips (glued them down) to the top of those 2x4s

creating a ledge for the compartment lid to fit on.

(Notice the "seems" on the smaller strips of wood are differentthan the wood below them--to help reinforce the frame we made).

We cut a piece the same thickness as the thinner strips of wood

that would fit as a lid,

 and added some hinges. The lid could now open and close.

To make the back of the chair stay upright, I started by drilling some holes

where indicated.

I fastened a ribbon from the back of the chair to the seat of the chair like shown

below with nuts and bolts where I had drilled the holes. I adjusted the

length of the ribbon to what would hold the back upright how I wanted before

fastening them. Do this to both the left and right side of the chair.

I wanted the lid to have a type of pull on it that would make it easier for our little

boy to open. I looped a ribbon and stapled it to the bottom front center of the lid piece.

Now we were ready to make the cushions. For the back of the chair I used some foam

that I had cut to the size of the opening of the back and added some batting to the top. 

The back padding of the chair needed to be thicker cushioned because I didn't

have it built up like I did for the seat part that had the compartment.

 I wrapped my fabric around it--similar to how I would wrap a present--and hand

sewed it to secure it. 

Then I covered 2 buttons with the same fabric

and secured them on the front to add little tucks to the fabric on the front.

I then just placed this cushion in the opening on the back--it was fluffy
enough to stay secure without any glue or anything. This would

not be hard at all to change fabrics--in case I ever have a little girl when

Tucker grows out of it. I can totally imagine it with a floral print of some type.

I did the seat cushion similar to the back cushion, but without as 

much batting added to the foam. I then hot glued the seat cushion

to ONLY the top of the lid piece and VOILA!

And I knew Tucker approved it when he said "Airpay chair!" and insisted that I sit

next to him on it :) I need to post a picture of him on it!

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Today's Creative Blog
Sugar Bee Crafts

Blanket Tutorial - Crochet edge blanket

Remember when I shared this blanket I received? 

Isn't it pretty?   Here take a closer look.

Ok.  Where to start.  I love the colors.  I love the fabric.  I love the edges.  The edges...want to know how?  Here's Abbie to show you!

Several years ago my mother taught me how to crochet around the edges of flannel. When she came to visit me from Utah she brought along several burp cloths that had holes already punched near the edges that made it quick and easy to crochet. I live in Wisconsin and have not found any local way to acquire similar flannel blankets or burp cloths or anyone who has the machine and is able to do it for me. So I decided to try to come up with my own way of doing it. I also decided to try on calico fabric instead of flannel because for some things I like the look and feel of calico better. After some trial and error I found a way to put holes into the fabric that works well enough. One advantage to this method is that you don't see the holes in the final product, although the crocheting does go slightly slower. Here are the steps to make a blanket similar to this one:

1. Cut two pieces of fabric the size you would like the blanket to be, plus ½-inch extra.

2. With right sides together, sew around all four edges of your fabric with a ¼-inch seam allowance, leaving enough space to turn right-side out.

3. Turn right side out, hand stitch the opening closed and press the edges flat.

4. Using a wing needle and no thread in your machine, sew around all four edges with the longest stitch setting on your machine and slightly further than ¼-inch from the edge. A wing needle has metal flanges extending to the right and left of the needle. When the needle goes through the fabric, the wings push the yarns of the fabric to the sides, creating holes.

5. For the first round of crocheting, use a small crochet hook (about a size 8) to be able to get in and out of the little holes. Starting anywhere ch 1, sc in the same hole, and in each hole around. When you have finished all four edges, join the last sc with a slip st to the first sc.

6. Use a larger crochet hook, about a size 5, for the rest of your desired crocheting pattern. I used a copyrighted pattern called Vera's Shell Stitch so am not able to share it.

 

Thank you so much Abbie not only for the blanket for teaching me how to make one myself!!

Creative Spotlight: Becky's Onesie Extender

So...maybe we're all a bit Baby-Hungry at This & That Creative this week??  Here's my spotlight.  Apparently all bodies (even babies) aren't necessarily "created equal."  Having ridiculously long legs myself and having a sister with a ridiculously long torso (neither of us over 5 1/2 ft.) made for some interesting fashion challenges for our mother growing up (and even now as adults!).  My friend, Becky, over at good times :) came up with this great idea for her long-torsoed little one.


Hi!  I'm Becky and I truly am one of  the plainest janes out there.   I love being organized and clutter-free.   I enjoy being green.  I also love to create.  I love new ideas which is why I love sites like this.  I am not the type of person who can think of ideas on my own; I pretty much always see things and then come up with how I want to make it.  So here I am sharing one of my projects:

I have a long child.

As a result, many onesies don't fit her. See below.

(yes, I let my child play with garbage.) (often, in fact.)

So I created a ONESIE EXTENDER! (insert trumpet sounds here!)

I made it from a onesie that was pretty badly stained up the back so I didn't feel bad cutting it up. :) It is DEFINITELY not the prettiest thing and I was actually quite amazed at its ugliness, but it works and it doesn't show once she's fully dressed so it is just perfect!

Hooray for no scrunched body!!!

And here she is. All dressed and pressed and ready to go. (can any of you name where that is from?)

And one last pic of her goofy mouth! She is constantly playing with her mouth and tongue!

Becky's original post can be found here:

http://dontblink18.blogspot.com/2011/02/project-onesie-extender.html