Saving soap one bar at a time (a tutorial).

A bar of soap wasting away on the bottom of the tub in slimy, over soaped, scummy bath water. Did a part of your soul shrivel like mine? If you come in regular contact with kids and bar soap it’s a problem.

We’re going to fix that today. I’m going to show you how to make Monster Soap Savers!

You need a bath sized washcloth (makes enough for 2), 12” ric rac trim, and black fabric paint for eyes. You’ll also need a sewing machine and basic sewing supplies.

Here’s a picture of how to cut out your pieces.

Cut the side of the washcloth so it’s 4” across. Cut that piece again so it’s 10” tall, that’s the body. You’ll have a little 4” wide by however long little snippet of washcloth which you’ll use for ears.

The extra larger portion you can use for bigger rabbit ears, arms and legs, or another monster. Or you can save it and pretend you’ll use it but really you’ll toss it in a few months when you forget why you were saving it.

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Now take your Monster body piece and measure down 3” and cut again. Set them both aside for a second. Make that 60 seconds.

Grab your ear piece and cut it in half so you have 2 squares. Pinch your pieces so the finished edges meet and pin. Sew them down along the bottom of the pinch and trim. Ears!

Pin your ears to the top edge of the longer body piece. Cut a piece of ric rac about 8” long and make a loop. Pin that between the ears. Set aside for another 60 seconds.

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Grab the 4”x3” smaller body section and sew ric rac to the finished washcloth edge on the underside. I purposely (um yeah, on purpose) chose the rounded edge for the ric rac so he would have a crooked smile. If that bothers you use the cut edge and turn it under before you sew the ric rac on so it’s straight.

Take your monster body with the ears and loop pinned to it and lay your smaller body section on the top, sandwiching the ears and loop, making sure the ric rac is facing you and matching the top edges and pin in place. Fold up the bottom over lapping your ric rac edge by about 1” to 1 1/2” and pin in place.

Sew around the outside on the 3 open sides to close it all up. I would zig zag around the edges so it doesn’t come unraveled later.

Turn it right side out and you have a very handsome and very yellow cast eyeless soap beast. I tried shoving some white eyeballs into the ears for pop out eyes (instead of ears) and it was really cute until I smeared a pupil with my paint, gave up, and just added 2 dot eyes to the body instead. The possibilities are endless for making it look as unique as your own little monsters plus you can have several in different colors. Everyone can have their very own with no mix ups and it can be washed and used again and everyone loves that. I have an order for a bunny and dog next.

Here’s the necessity behind the invention- I used to buy the kids soap that comes in a green super sudsy plastic cover for several reasons but really, unless you have one kid it gets a little dicey when it comes to who’s soap is who’s and who used it where last. Nuff said.

Have a fantastic and squeaky clean Tuesday!

Laundry (in)sanity

Ah laundry. The bane of my existence. I get so jealous when I run across a blog post where someone says “We came home from our trip and I had an entire load to wash”. HA! Yes, I ha’d you 1 load people. I’m not bragging or trying to play the martyr here but with 7 1/2 people and a smelly dog in our family I have at least 12 loads a week of just clothes and towels. Add sheets and blankets and dog stuff and our house is basically a 24 hour laundromat.

Since I’m elbow deep in clothes all the time I thought I’d give my $.02 on laundry and how I make it a little more bearable.

I can almost hear the gasps coming- I only buy white towels, kitchen and bath. I know you probably think I’m crazy but I swear by it. My kids are hard on towels and don’t always get them into the laundry when they should so they end up smelling gross or stained. I used to have dark green towels and I would have to wash them several times to get them to smell okay and sometimes they would still have a stain or two on them that no amount of stain treating or soaking would get out.

Not with white towels. I throw my towels in the wash with bleach and let it soak for a while. Being able to bleach them is key. My towels are several years old and look great. It works for restaurants, hospitals, and hotels and by golly it works for big families to. I do buy colored beach towels just so the kids know which towels they can take to the pool or outside. No white towels leave the house.

Here’s my other dirty (clean?) secret. I don’t fold or match socks. We have a sock basket and everyone is on their own for finding socks. As I’m folding I put all the socks I find in the load in a separate pile and if there happens to be a match screaming at me I’ll fold it, the rest go in the basket. Moral of this story, make sure both your socks are together in the dirty laundry or you get to play find and seek. This isn’t so much for convenience as it is that I just hate socks.

Each child over 6 also folds his/her own laundry. I’ll happily wash and throw their clothes in their baskets but it’s their responsibility to see that they get folded. Let me tell you, it sure cuts down on the amount of clean clothes they “accidently” put in the dirty clothes bins because eventually they do have to fold them again.

Long post but it’s been on my mind, and covering my coffee table at the moment. Any tips that save your laundry day?

All in white, almost, and a discussion about patterns.

So I finally took pictures of Ashlyn’s baptism dress. I’ve been waiting for good weather but I couldn’t hack it anymore. The rain is still here so I just went for it so they’re a little dark but you get the idea. Ashlyn requested a split down the middle with green accents and I wanted unicorn hair fabric and scallops so mash those together and you get this-

I used Simplicity 4647 for the bodice but I cut a new neckline and used my own pattern for the sleeves so really I just need the armscye and zipper placement. Zippers are one of Satan’s creations so I usually cheat and use a pattern as a base when I want to do a zipper. I can’t recommend this pattern, I didn’t follow it or look at anything but the zipper insertion and the armscyes but it was helpful for that ;). I did my own thing from the waist down and used a mixing bowl for the scallops. The sash is completely removable (in the pattern it’s not in case you’re wondering) so we can mix it up and make different colored ones if we want to.

*Here’s where I add a bit of a side note about commercial patterns.*

I can’t tell you enough how important it is for ones sanity to keep sewing until you feel comfortable not following a pattern anymore. I thought I would take the easy route and just follow a pattern this time to save time. I haven’t opened my pattern tote for at least a year or two and had to find it, but after reading the instructions and looking at the pieces it was going to be so much harder than just measuring her and cutting rectangles. This dress took me 2 days to finish and if I had to be chained to that stinking pattern for the entire dress it would have taken me a week.

It’s so freeing to one day realize you don’t need the instructions and further more they go about it the hard way. It took me 7 years to be pattern free and will probably take another 7 to get the arm’s and zippers straight by myself but I’ll get there.

If you want to know my go to pattern when I need a sleeve or something it’s Butterick 3707. It’s out of print (as are all my patterns!) but I use the bodice over and over again to make shirts, dress bodices, and I love the sleeves. It makes a nice surplice top and is crossed just right so it’s not bagging out or too low cut. It is short so I usually lengthen the bottom hem if I’m making the top as is. I used the sleeve pattern to make this dress a few years ago and made the entire outfit as is for Christmas dresses to.

Any patterns you can’t live without or are you completely on your own?

Ruffling and Rolling

I’m very technical here. I know you already know that by my use of such terms as “wonky” and “thingamabob” in each of my tutorials. I’ve come to find out that the foot I’ve so lovingly named my super foot is really called a rolled hem foot and not an 1/8” hemming foot. Doesn’t really matter to me, but to those of you trying to get your little sewing mitts on one it would probably help if I called it by the right name.

A few of you mentioned that you would like to see this little guy do it’s magic. I wanted to do a tutorial or video but then I found one. Perfect. Pretend this is me, without so much introduction. My foot even falls off the same in the beginning of loading the fabric ;).

A few of you asked for more info on my ruffler foot and I’ve got to be honest. I don’t know how to use mine. I just play with it. It’s a great foot but it’s more of a toy for me at this point than an actual working foot. Mine works, I just don’t make it work very hard. Here’s a good free pdf from You Can Make This By CarlaC Dolly Designs called the Ruffler Unruffled. Nice for those of us who’s feet didn’t come with instructions what so ever. I’ve browsed through it once but I’m a visual learner so I looked today and Carla made a video with her using it. I like seeing it run.

So hopefully that will give you guys something to brush up on this weekend. Ruffle and Roll to your hearts content. It’s really fun.

Before I jump off here and leave my blog for the weekend I wanted to let you know about Amanda of Ike and Ella. She just opened a shop called Ike and Ella and is celebrating the grand opening by donating 15% of all proceeds until the 14th to Autism Speaks in her sons name, as well as a giveaway on her blog. I love a good cause so if you’re thinking of picking up something new and cute for the little ones this week check out Ike and Ella.

Have a great weekend, mine is starting now with more cleaning and packing!

My favorite things

Rain drops on roses and whiskers on kittens… just kidding, I know you all were thinking it though. I thought I’d share what some of my favorite tools are, just for kicks. Some are have to have that I use every time I sew and some are just to save my sanity occasionally. Here we go-

Ah, the high tech elastic insertion device. A must have. The bigger the better. I like diaper pins the best, they glide through easier.

This little baby is my favorite tool ever. Ever. How do you turn a loop without a loop turner? You don’t. You scream and yell and don’t make skinny straps. Bunnies will cry watching you try to turn a strap without one.
I use this to turn all my dress and shirt straps right side out. It turns a very tedious job into a 5 second one. If you make clothes this is a must have. For about $6 ($3 if you wait for a notions wall sale) it’s worth every cent and more. Plus it saves bunnies from dehydrating.*

Another favorite and a big splurge, my gingher scissors. I got mine for a steal but they hardly ever see the light of day. They are too sacred to use to snip threads. They stay in their little tin with the protective black thingy on them. I love them and when I find a project worthy of them I know they will cut like butter. They are that awesome. I have a pair of regular scissors to cut threads and another pair of regular scissors used solely to cut out fabric. My ginghers just look purty. I have a scissors problem but I’m not willing to deal with it yet.

Another basic favorite. My self healing mat, rotary cutter, and clear ruler. I pull these out every time I sew and I use my mat when I craft to. My set has lasted 8 years, I’m sure you can see how thrashed my mat is in all my tutorial pictures. I didn’t fully appreciate them until a few years ago and now I can’t live without them.

My ruffler foot. I bought a generic one for my machine and only pull it out a few times a year, but every time I do I remember how much I love it and think I should use more often. Much like my ginghers…

My 1/8” hemming foot, oh how I love thee. It saved my fancy Easter dresses a few years ago. It’s my super foot. I only use it on sheer or silky stuff since it’s so little. I only use it a few times a year but for only $4.99 regular price it’s worth it’s weight in gold. I’m on the look out for a 1/4” foot that I know will get used a ton.




These are just a few of my favorites. You don’t have to have some of these things but if you’re ever in the fabric store and see a great deal on them I suggest giving them a whirl.

*Just so you know, I have never been paid to do or say anything on my blog so these are just my humble little opinions of my favorite things that I use, and I can’t be sure that bunnies will cry and get dehydrated but you don’t want to risk it.

What are your favorites, must have or just like to have?

Getting Merry

I'm not into Christmas decorations like most people, I'm a bit Grinchy about it. It's not that I don't like Christmas, I just don't like moving my regular stuff around just to put it back in a few weeks. I'm lazy and a bit OCD and when my decorations find a home they stay there all year every year. In fact if I could get away with just stringing a tree with chocolate candy on Christmas Eve and call it good I would. I would eat all the decorations Christmas eve and then put the tree away- sounds good to me!

When you have kids though they sort of expect their mom to actually decorate. I know it's already the 5th and I don't have a single decoration found yet so I thought to help me get in the mood we'd start a little seasonal fun today and decorate tomorrow. My Aunt emailed me the funnest link for all things Christmas last year and my kids absolutely loved it! It's called Northpole.com and it's ad free and kid friendly- love that. They can send an email to Santa and get a reply, make personalized Christmas books, print out fun educational worksheets, find fun recipes, even track Santa on Christmas Eve. If you've been there before then you know how fun it is for the kids. I've printed off enough fun things today that I'm sure to be humming "Deck the halls" in no time.

As soon as I wash a few big bowls (I've been making divinity, bread, and chocolate chip cookies) we're going to make Sparkly Peppermint Playdough and Gingerbread Playdough. I haven't tried the recipes out yet so I'll let you know how they turn out.

I'm not going to win awards for being the mom with the cutest Christmas house for December but my kids will have a blast while I procrastinate decorating. I think that sort of redeems me ;o).

Have a great weekend!!

Keeping the inmates at bay...

I've always been a big fan of having my kids do daily chores. You know what they say, idle hands and all and I think there's nothing wrong with teaching your kids to pick up after themselves and to earn things, not just get things. I haven't been the best at keeping them interested in doing chores or finding a method that allows them to learn life skills without the side effects- whining, arguing, fighting- all those things that make the hairs on the back of my neck just curl and that vein in my forehead explode until I give and do the dang chores myself.

This idea uses "tokens", I chose buttons like my blog because I have a bazillion, that they earn for doing their chores. They can then use those tokens to cash in on some extra privileges. I've seen Super Nanny use this sort of method with fake flowers and pots but the button thing really spoke to me. I still love you Super Nanny, I really do.

Here's my spin on it. I kept the kids daily chores the same but added a button value to it like brushing your teeth and hair (or hairy teeth as the case might be) is worth 2 buttons. If they do their chore without being reminded to do it they get an extra white button, I changed the color mostly so I could keep track of how many chores they really do (the colored buttons) compared to extra things (the white buttons). It's the annalist in me and I'm anal that way... it doesn't really matter. Once they have enough buttons they can redeem them for an extra privilege like chocolate milk or an extra treat which costs them x number of buttons. I also incorporated the house rules into the mix. I think they go hand in hand, chores and rules that is. For each rule they break after they have been warned they get a time out and a button or so taken away depending on the offense. Everyone but Kaci has a list of chores. Mary has been doing chores since she turned 3 and you would be surprised how much a 3 year old can do (and will do).

I printed out the rules, the chores, and the redemptions and the different values of each and put them in frames on the wall so the kids could see what I expected of them and what they would get in return clearly laid out in front of them each day. The frames would be much cuter if I could find the gosh darned black paint that Kaci keeps hiding from me, oh and cute little buckets or tins for the buttons would have been cute to, but I digress... That's a big deal for my eldest. If he doesn't get told something over and over again or if it isn't in plain view every 5 minutes it doesn't exist. Also big for Cody and I so we're always on the same page and every things the same whether it comes from mom or dad.

So far it's been working like a charm. Better than that- it's heaven sent. I actually heard Ashlyn and Jeremy say "I want to clean my room" and "What else can I do". My house is cleaner and with the little things out of the way I was able to tackle some big things I haven't had time to get to.

Cookies as an earning prize doesn't hurt either...

Seriously though, go and be merry and make yourself sane with buttons and chores and cute lists and happy helpful children... I'll never be the same!