It's been a busy week here at Penny Carnival, but I've managed to make five of the elf hats for Magpie's woodland-themed birthday party on Sunday. Four more to go. Just to recap, I made these following Amy Karol's pattern in Bend the Rules Sewing. They're going to be the party favors. Do the brown leaf ones look boyish enough for the little fellas? Will the girls balk if their hats are gray instead of pink? As the mother of two girls, I get so dang sick of pink.
I also finished the gray dress that was supposed to be Magpie's party outfit, but hello huge mondo. She just had her 12 month check up and she's on the way big size (her head circumference is off the charts! Poor kid takes after her mom and her papa) but she's still not big enough for this enormous dress I sewed her. Looks like it's going in the closet for a few months. Hopefully I'll have time to whip up a smaller version by Sunday.
The little yo-yo flower wasn't part of the original plan. It's covering the result of a disastrous encounter the dress had with the sewing machine as I was trying to make buttonholes.
Putting a glitch in my cake debate is the fact that my oven broke. Hmmm ... I have a Plan D brewing.
Megan, The party favor party hats are truly impressive. I've thrown a lot of parties for my 3 kids and the most elaborate thing I ever made was drawstring pouches to contain pirate booty -(great pretend gems at www.DeadMenTellNoTales.com - kids over 3 of course.) I think the moms will be very happy to have new hats for their little ones. Can't wait to see the cake, and I hope you get your oven fixed. Don't know how to do a cake in the slowcooker:)
Cherie
Posted by: studiocherie | October 23, 2008 at 10:37 PM
Ha, ha. I've actually made a cake in a Dutch oven before on the grill. It tasted OK but it was far from cute. My plan involves doctoring up a bakery cake. The oven repairman won't be here until Nov. 3.
:(
Thanks on the hats. Your pirate idea is cute, too. I love birthdays!!!
Posted by: Megan | October 23, 2008 at 10:58 PM
I love the little hats - they are so cute! What a birthday party it'll be! I think the brown ones will be perfect! The dress is fabulous too - even if it's too big. ;)
Posted by: Astrid | October 24, 2008 at 03:45 AM
as long as you have a little pink on the hats you will be safe with the girls, lord knows how sick i am of pink too and i just have 1 girl....the boy hats with the oak leaves are adorable!! and i love the dress, hmmmmm wondering if a 35 year old mother of 2 would look good in that? wonder if i could find one in a 10/12? hubbie would probably not think it is too sexy though, but comfy!! very cute!!
Posted by: kristine hanson | October 24, 2008 at 12:30 PM
I'm cracking up, Kristine, because I have lived out this fantasy. A few months ago I sewed a dress for myself sort of following one of the girls' jumper patterns. It looked horrible! I immediately seam ripped the whole thing and folded up the fabric for future use. Comfortable? Yes. Flattering? Sure, if you think circus tents are sexy. This is one of the many reasons I don't understand why some parents let their young children dress like hoochie mamas. You can only wear enormous flannel jumpers for so long--enjoy it while you can!
Posted by: Megan | October 24, 2008 at 12:47 PM
The hats and dress are really sweet! Yes, the brown ones are definately boyish enough. I love all your creativity, how do you find the time?!? :)
Posted by: Karla W. | October 25, 2008 at 12:30 AM
Thanks, Karla.
I'm not sure, really (about finding the time). I just do because I'd lose my mind if I didn't. My work is part time and I do it from home, which I'm really thankful for and I know that helps. The girls are pretty good nappers. I also really don't watch any TV (that can be a big time zapper--especially if it's a good season of Project Runway). And I think I require less sleep than the average bear so a lot happens at night when everyone's in bed.
Posted by: Megan | October 25, 2008 at 01:05 AM
Megan, I totally agree with your comment about the hoochie mama...not in my house either! My daughter will wear jumpers for the rest of her life with tights and turtlenecks, mark my words!!
Posted by: kristine hanson | October 25, 2008 at 01:09 AM
Hiya! Surfed over here from the Amy Karol flickr group--what a great blog! I was wondering, what wool source did you use for these? I've had a brown one in mind for my little guy and have a wool sweater I shrunk/felted, but it doesn't seem as stiff as the felt she uses in the book--any ideas on pros/cons of hat stiffness?
Posted by: mama-pan | October 27, 2008 at 01:19 PM
Thanks for stopping by, mama-pan!
I actually used fleece instead of wool for the hats. I had to make nine of them and, well, fleece was 50 percent off at the fabric store last week. In her book, Amy suggests using fleece, too (although with less enthusiasm as she suggests wool, not that I blame her).
The fleece was very easy to work with, by the way. FYI--the leaf and flower embellishments were made with some wool felt I bought off the bolt.
I have some old wool sweaters in my stash that are destined for the washing machine, but to date I've never done any of my own felting. That is, intentionally. I do recall a couple of my husband's sweaters getting mixed in the wrong laundry basket and coming out of the machine just my size in the past.
Posted by: Megan | October 27, 2008 at 11:58 PM