A Simple Project and A Cautionary Tale...

Buggy and his best friend Sir H had a sleepover last weekend. I have to begin by telling you that these two are absolutely hysterical together. They are completely and totally interchangeable, having the same personalities and mannerisms, and his mom and I often laugh about their antics. The two of them are absolutely fascinated by sewing, a fact that I still find sweet and endearing at the same time. Several months ago they made their little sisters matching dolls, (using Bit of Whimsy Doll's Butterbean pattern) complete with embroidered names and immediately asked if they could do more sewing. I agreed, and decided that a pillowcase was a good project to start with. We first headed off to the fabric store and had a quick lesson on why polar fleece wasn't a good material for a pillowcase, despite having an 'awesome' design on it followed by a "Coordinating prints, they are our friends" lesson, and came home with some really cool choices for their first project. Using a Sew Baby pattern that is a free download, we cut all the pieces and got to work. I handled all the ironing and closely supervised while they used one of my machines, and they set to work creating their first project.

Complete concentration was a must!

And sewing books can serve dual purposes in a pinch!

When all was said and done, they both turned out these pillowcases! Not too shabby for a couple of five year olds, huh?

And now for our cautionary tale...

You might think, given that this post is about children and sewing that the cautionary tale would have to do with them. Sadly, (or gladly, depending on how you look at it) this is not the case. The boys did a fantastic job following directions and are already looking forward to their next project. My cautionary tale is about procrastination...

Several months ago, I picked up some really cute princess fabric to make Mistress a pillowcase for her room. For the most part I try to stick with basic sheets and then I make extra pillowcases to mix and match. It's inexpensive, simple, and the kids get all their favorite characters and theme pillows without having to own a million different sheet sets. (Plus is there anything better in life than going to bed on a fresh pillowcase?) I got this adorable princess fabric:

to coordinate with the pink sheets that we already own, stuck it on my fabric shelf, and didn't get around to this 30 minute project for several months. When I went to make it, I realized that I didn't have enough of the main print. Since this was a directional print, the print on the pillowcase would have run sideways if I cut it the way the pattern calls for, and I didn't have enough to cut a front and a back to make it run top to bottom. Sigh. Of course since it had been several months, I could also no longer get more of said fabric. Double sigh. I ended up fudging it a bit and ended up with a finished project that was only one inch shorter than it was supposed to be and it worked just fine, but it took me longer than it should have and I was just kicking myself anyway for putting it off for so long. Moral of the story? Don't procrastinate unless you know you can get more fabric. Second moral? Where there's a will, there's a way!