Unselfish Sewing

 

I did a bit of unselfish sewing this last week.  My nephew had his 2nd birthday and I gained a new niece (about a month ago).  Different families, however, both families are into tractors.  One family being rednecks (lol); the other family are actually farmers. 

I set out to make the nephew farmer a cow plushie out of Farmall fabric.  And the niece a dress from the leftovers. 

I scoured the web for an appropriate cow plushie pattern.  Being from Wisconsin, we know cows.  Seeing as he is a little farmer, he would definitely know cows.  I wanted a cute, fat cow that looked realistic.  I found many weird skinny cows and clownish smiley cows but only one that fit what I wanted.  (Technically this is a bull, not a cow)

This pattern was written well with many pictures.  There was only one spot where I scratched my head and wished for a clear picture.  It took me almost 4 hours to sew this guy up.  I forgot how many small corners and items are involved with plushies!

Fabric: 1/2 yard Farmall fabric from fabric.com $4.60 and 1/2 yard black anti-pill fleece from Wal-Mart $1.49.  The pattern cost $8.50 – I picked it up from the Rumpled Quilt Skins website.  (note: For some reason the pattern wasn’t sent to me via email so the next morning I emailed her and she responded immediately with the pattern).  Total for the cow: $14.59

Thoughts:  I think he turned out great.  I took care in hand sewing the belly shut after stuffing him.  I despise hand sewing but this ladder stitch was perfect!  I do hope he enjoys the cow.  I would recommend any of her patterns on the site.  I may try my hand at a few more as Mr. T thought the cow was “so cool” but prefers pigs (it’s a Minecraft thing).

 

Next up was the dress.  I traced out an Ottobre dress but decided not to sew it up as it had more steps and I wanted something fast and simple.  Someone was talking about the Geranium dress on a Facebook group and I thought it would be perfect.  Since I was using the 0-3 month size it was free (even better!).  This pattern is from Rae of Made by Rae.

front

I printed it off and cut out the pieces with ease.  There are only 2 pieces included in the pattern (the front and back bodice) and the measurements are given for a rectangle for the skirt part. 

back

The instructions are excellent for a free pattern and includes photos of the steps.  The one part I disagreed with was that no interfacing was recommended for where the buttons/snaps would be.  To me this is essential.  Anyway, I sewed this dress up in no time. 

clean insides

The bodice is lined and there are no seams to be scratchy by babies stomach.  I used red snaps per Miss K’s request.  I mailed it out right away before little Miss E could outgrow it!

Fabric: 1/2 yard Farmall fabric from fabric.com $4.60.  I sure wish I sewed when my kids were little.  These things take such small amounts of fabric and so little time!

look, so small!