shiso mama

Today is my due date, but we are still waiting. And waiting (I think the landscapers are finishing their work as I type, so it looks like they’ve won the race to the finish line). Our friends, who were originally due 2 1/2 weeks later, even had their baby this morning! In the meantime, I continue with the sewing. Oh, and the waiting.

We have a baby friend, Oliver, who celebrates the same birthday as Otis, and despite how easy it should’ve been to remember, we actually forgot. Naughty naughty. So I made him a small belated present - a food related present, since he has recently been magically cured of some trying eating difficulties.

I sewed him a bib from fabrics collected from Otis’s baby clothes . Does that seem unsanitary somehow? But I loved all of these clothes, and they bring up such great memories for me, and it seemed like a shame not to use them all up. I embroidered his name on the bib, and it’ll go into a package with some dishes and utensils from Boon, whose new feeding products I’m rather enjoying. Oh, and the new layette looks nice, too.

What actually started this bib project is the idea that I wanted to make Otis a quilt made of his old baby clothes. After we found out that we were having a girl, I went through all the boxes of clothes that I had been holding onto for the past three years, figuring out what to keep and what to give away. I used to love buying these little button-up shirts with great patterns on it for Otis (yes, uncomfortable and silly for a 2 month old, so sue me), and I just couldn’t quite bear to give them away. So it seemed to make sense to make him a keepsake with them, especially since he doesn’t have a large enough quilt to cover his bed now that he’s moved onto a twin-sized one. So I took all of the clothes that were made of woven fabric, took a very deep breath, and cut them all to shreds. After the first shirt, whose destruction made me quite sad, it was actually quite therapeutic. I’ve actually had to stop myself from eyeing clothes that have great patterns but that he still fits into. And the verdict?

Otis had a lot of blue clothes, which surprised me a little.

But now I’m finding that I’m a little stuck, because in case you can’t tell, I generally don’t mix a lot of colors and patterns, and every combination that I’ve tried to work out seems to be just so darned busy.

See?

And see?

Is it just me? Probably, since thinking about more than 3 colors at a time usually makes me feel slightly tipsy. I think I’ll just have to sort of give into the (perceived) busyness. I’m not used to this whole concept of mixing and matching, but since I feel quite committed to using all of these little squares that I’ve cut up, I think I’ll have to just go with it. I guess Oliver’s bib was a sort of try-out, and it doesn’t look too bad to me, so maybe I’ll feel differently about it once it’s all put together. I think I’m leaning towards two rows of pieces squares, followed by a solid band of white or off-white (rather than the small squares, like the bottom photo), repeating this, and then putting a white/off-white border around the whole thing? Anyone have any opinions about this?

And here’s another question - I’m debating the fate of a shirt of Otis’s, which is one of my absolute favorites. I’ve only just stopped stuffing him into it because it’s cutting off circulation at his wrists (it’s an 18m shirt). A friend recently said, “Hey, that shirt looks like a girl could wear it.” and I had to respond, “Um, that’s because it is a girl’s shirt.” So it’s really something that could be passed on to Otis-ina, an idea that F likes. But it’ll really be Otis’s shirt forever in my brain, and it feels like it should be part of his quilt. Should I cut the mother up, or should I save it?

Of course there’s been some making of the wearables for Otis-ina, although not really as much as one might think. I don’t any problems starting any of these projects, only finishing them, unfortunately.

I bought this yarn to knit a baby blanket for a friend when she was pregnant. I believe that child (the oldest of three) is now six. I’m not sure how many times I’ve tried to use this yarn, and I finally finished a project with it. I used this pattern here, a pretty easy one to follow. I thought that sewing in a zipper would be easier than buttons and button holes, but it’s pretty much a toss-up as long as you can find the right zipper. Here’s a tutorial on sewing in a zipper, in case you ever find yourself in need. The hood is ribbed and the body is boxy, so it looks like my baby will have a little pin-head when she wears it.

A little top for Otis-ina to wear while we’re in Taiwan this summer. It’s made of a really thin cotton that I’ve been holding onto for some time. As opposed as I am to pink, I find myself surprisingly drawn to lavender, it’s kissing cousin. And burgundy. And mauve. And for some other reason, these ruffles made me irrationally happy. Alarming news, all of this.

And a little knitted cap, using this pattern and Koigu yarn, which has a slight sheen and comes in the most gorgeous colors. It also feels just great and has these subtle color variations, even in some of the solid colors, that I just love. I found myself drawn to this dusty rose yarn, and considered pairing it with a pale green grey, but when I asked the salesperson if it was too depressing for a baby, she paused and then said, “uhh….. nooooo, i don’t so.” I should’ve known that that was the response I was actually looking for, since I then bought this dusty turquoise color instead, and although I like the color quite a bit, I should’ve realized that knitting the two next to each other would make the rose appear - gasp!- pink! Damn, I forgot basic color theory.

Today is my niece, Ashley’s first birthday. I can hardly believe that the past year has flown by so quickly. I mean, do any of you remember when you were all giving me great suggestions for her name? She’s walking now, and really becoming quite famous - she’s been in a number of newspapers, and she’s going to be in a yogurt commercial with my sister-in-law soon. I mean, the kid gets more positive press than Violet Affleck! (She must have good PR people….)

Happily, my brother was just in town, and I was able to hand off her present to him. No big surprise, it’s a baby bag, a little tote made with my favorite Etsuko Furuya fabric that was left over from my homasote bulletin board project. I stitched on some felted leaves, and some leather cord for the stem. My sister-in-law loves handbags (she’s otherwise a jeans and flats kind of girl), and I guess I’m getting Ashley started early on that path as well.

We’ll get to see Ashley this summer when we go back to Taiwan. Happily, my brother is going to move to an apartment much closer to my parents’ place, so hopefully we’ll get to spend a lot more time with her. Otis will love to have a playmate to order around. Happy birthday, Baby Ashley!

Here’s a shisomama first: a collaborative project between F and me! A little while back, F had this brilliant idea to create a fishing game for Otis. The kid adores sticks and always picks them up on our walks (he even has a bucket outside the door for them), and he often tells us he’s “fishing” with them. So hey, why not make him a game that enables him to wave long sticks around the breakable things INSIDE our house? It was fun working on a creative project together. Here’s what we did (Sorry for the poor quality of many of the pictures - it was relentlessly rainy while we were working this past weekend. Though I guess you could say it’s the perfect rainy day project.):

F bought two 3/8″ dowels (so that Otis could play his game with a friend) and used a hand saw and cut them down to about 28″ inches. Then he used his drill to make a small hole at one end.

On the other end, he used blue duct tape to create a “handle.” (You can also use bicycle handlebar tape, which comes in a variety of colors.) To make it look nice, he cut a circle out of duct tape and then notched it so that it would look streamlined when it was smoothed over the sides.

Then he cut a long strip of duct tape and wrapped the “handle” in one long piece.

To make the “fishing line” he ran a piece of embroidery floss through the hole that he drilled and tied a couple of knots to keep it in place.

At the end of the embroidery floss, he attached a small stack of 1/2″ magnets to create the “bait hook.” He covered them with duct tape as well, using the same notching method as the handle. On the top of the magnets, he slit the duct tape to the middle, to allow for a tidy look where he ran the embroidery floss. After taping the top and bottom, he trimmed a piece of duct tape to wrap around the sides as well.

For the fish, I drew a very basic fish pattern and cut it out in several different fabrics. I stitched them together, leaving a 1/8″ seam allowance and turned them inside out, with the tails open. In each fish, I inserted a 1/8″ x 1″ zinc washer (I chose the ones with the smallest holes to allow for more surface area for the magnets to adhere to).

I tacked the washers in place by stitching a french knot on both sides of the fish, where the eyes would be. (Here’s a great tutorial; I wrapped my floss around the needle 3 times rather than 2 to create a bigger “eye.)

I stuffed the fish and then stitched a decorative tail to close up the fish. You can be as plain or as fancy as you want, though I left them quite simple.

I decided to make a “fish pond” by cutting out a large circle out of my trusty Marimekko fabric (it’s about 21″ in diameter) and zigzagging it onto some nice, thick canvas. And here it is, finished!

We’ve been testing it out, and even with the stuffing, the fish can be caught quite easily by the magnet “hook.” It’s a challenging game that’ll take him a while to get the hang of, and we hope we enjoys it. We’ll be giving this to him as a birthday present, and it may sound like we’re super organized since his birthday is not until late March, but that’s only because we couldn’t get it together to give to him as a present from Santa Claus.

Hey, it just occurred to me that we’re totally this generation’s version of the granola parent - you know the parent who makes their own granola and sprouts when all the kids really want to eat is Twinkies. We’re forcing Otis to play our handmade game when probably all he wants is a Tickle Me Elmo. And unfortunately for him, I make my own granola as well.

Here’s a video of F and me, playing the game. I’m not making excuses here, but let me just remind you that I was holding the camera here:

As much as I wish I were lazing about, eating bonbons and having my feet rubbed (uh, my birthday IS coming, hint hint), I’m trying to take advantage of these sad, last days of my mother’s visit by cleaning, organizing like a fiend, and working in the studio. Here are some recently completed projects:

It seems that every boy in our lives receives a baby man-purse for one birthday or another. This is one that I just finished for our friend named, well, you can guess:

My mantra while making this: “Do a good job on this one, because his mama sewed Otis an excellent quilt which lies draped on his bed at this very moment, and his grandmother is an accomplished seamstress and knitter who seems to make everything cute that he wears. Plus, you are harboring a not-so-secret hope that she will unlock the secrets of Korean cooking for you.”

I tried my hand at embroidery for this project. It was shaky at first, but it got better. I think I actually rather like this project. Do you hear that, Gods of Self-Doubt? I defy you! Here’s a closeup. You can also see how my poor mother has been spending her days: sculpting Playdoh hats for each and every one of Otis’s animals.

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A scarf for a friend, who’s going home to a very cold place.

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A bib for sweet baby Hazel, whose parents run one of the tastiest establishments in town.

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When it was almost time for our friend, Emmett, to celebrate his third birthday, we asked him what homemade present he wanted. “A black scarf, like Mama and Baba. But with animals.” I was happy to oblige, and even happier that he made such a specific request:

It’s two rows of animal appliques on fleece, which is a material I feel conflicted about, but which seemed like a good idea for its washability. I was trying designs out, and ended up with enough materials for an extra for Otis:

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A denim man-purse for Jack, who’s a big fan of trains (there was a tremendous homemade train cake at his party and everything!):

There are still other projects I’m working on. I’m hoping to get as much done as I can while I still posess my sanity and my nerves. It’s felt good to make some things with my hands, but you know, I still feel a little weird about making presents sometimes. I was talking with a co-worker, and she told me the story about a friend of hers, who wasn’t sure how to tell all her crafty friends that their taste just wasn’t her taste, and would they quit it already with the crappy presents. Sometimes I feel the same way, when I receive a lukewarm response to a homemade present. Now, I mostly ask what a person would prefer, or make things for people whom I know well know to know that they’ll appreciate it, or who have hinted to me in the past. What do you guys do/think about homemade presents?

My friend, Takako, and I met in birth class more than two years ago, and I’m so terribly fond of her, despite the awful fact that she packed up and moved to Boston shortly after the birth of their son. She is the kind of friend who will remember your unhealthy obsession with the country of her birth and send you goodies when she visits home. She is the kind of friend whose mother will send you gifts. She is the kind of friend who, on this most recent visit, not only bought you treats from one of your favorite stores in the world, but also this wonderful bundle of fabrics:

I think the apple fabric on top is my favorite. Did you notice that cup of Japanese cuteness?

That’s the kind of friend who deserves a little gift in return. So when her birthday rolled on by (she shares a birthday with Otis) and her son’s birthday approached, I made them matching bags! A baby man-purse for Tamaki, and a tote for mom. I know, matchiness can be annoying, but somehow, mom and son matchiness seemed OK. Plus it’s complementary, not identical. Plus…yes, I’m just justifying now.

The baby man-purse:

It’s made of a denim-y linen material, with a freeform denim shape stitched on top, edges left raw, and some felt balls (which Otis referred to as “trees”). I wanted Otis to model it, but after taking a series of these pictures, I questioned the setting and the wardrobe of the photo shoot:

I PROMISE, Takako, no bare baby butt touched that bag! He’s wearing (under)pants!!

So we went outside with clothes on, but this is what happens after you teach a baby to smile for the camera:

A lot of whipping around of the head to mug for the camera, and turning of one’s body so that the bag that one is ostensibly modelling is not at all visible (look how he’s even posing with a prop!). So he had to be tricked into running towards the door to look for Baba:

A train whistle made modelling mom’s bag a little easier:

Same idea with the freeform shape and raw edges, but with some snaps sewn on for decoration.

We hear the family is sick, but hope that they will be able to take an outing soon with their new bags.

Speaking of packages, I received my own extremely exciting one of my own from Stephanie. She held a contest for her one-year blogging anniversary, and wouldn’t you know it? I got chosen from her enormous pool of readers. She sent me this wonderful little pillow:

If you’ve read her blog or seen her shop then you’ll know what I mean when I say that it is every bit as beautiful and wonderfully constructed as you would expect. Check her out. Thank you Stephanie!

Click here to view collage #162.

Hope you are enjoying the (holiday) weekend.  Here’s our little (Easter) ham this Fashion Show Sunday:

Still love our little elf hat:

We went to a Easter Egg Hunt/Brunch today, and as I scanned the crowd of kids wearing their Easter finery or just their everyday casual play clothes, I felt a momentary pang of guilt dressing Otis up as I do. Then I saw one of my favorite kids in the neighborhood and felt better although yes, it’s true, she does dress herself:

(leotard, shirt, thigh high pink socks, pink rainboots)

Which leads me to our latest recycled sweater tutorial. This one took a few more brain waves than the last project, but I’m pretty pleased with the results. I had this sweater, and while I loved the colors and the stripes, the turtleneck made me feel like I was choking every time I put it on:

First I washed and dried it. Then I cut off the turtleneck (using my handy rotary cutter) and turned over the edge and stitched it. Here’s the inside view:

The ribbed hem cinched in a little and I didn’t want it any tighter, so I cut off the hem before taking in the sides of the sweater. Then I trimmed off the excess and reattached the hem, topstitching afterwards. Another inside view:

I cut off the cap sleeves because they didn’t lay in the right place on a toddler, and turned over a hem and stitched. The sleeveline stretched a little (and I think I need to take the sleeve in a little more), but a little steaming helped.

It seemed plain so I played around with some of the extra pieces. I decided a Peter Pan-ish collar was too girly, even for me.

I ended up with a contrasting stripe down the middle (using some of the excess from the sides) and then F and I decided to make it into a “tie” using the tip of one of the cap sleeves because we thought it was funny. ho ho. It even has a little bit of stuffing in it to make the knot a little puffy. It’s all zigzag stitched on.

Anyone going to try?

I realized this morning, as I stared mournfully into Otis’s drawers, that there’s no way we could ever top last week’s outfit. There’s no point in even trying; it would just be a sad half-hearted imitation. The kid’s peaked, and he’s not yet two. From now on, we’ll just have to focus on developing his street-smarts and his sense of humor to get him through life.

Sigh:

I’ve been sewing this week and thinking about our upcoming trip to Taiwan. Where it is hot and sticky, a.k.a. totally and completely miserable. Even though I generally dislike shorts, I decided to sew Otis a pair or two. Today’s denim shorts were my first pair:

I started out with the shorts that were part of the pajamas for Simplicity #8493. But they were so plain that I decided to add some patch pockets. Here is the pocket pattern I drafted, laid atop the Simplicity one. I cut two, laying the side edge of the pattern on the fold of the fabric so that it is doubled. (Make sense? Sorry, my editor went to get his hair cut.) It may be hard to tell from the pictures, but you are essentially sewing one big pocket on each side of the shorts, meaning that the front and back look identical.

Then I sewed bias to the top of the pocket, and turned over 1/4″ on the bottom. (I know it’s a pain to make the bias, but I think you get a much nicer edge because it’s hard to turn and clip the inside curve. To make it easier, you could also just buy bias and use it for both sides.) I sewed the pockets on first, then sewed the rest of the pieces together. The top of the pocket ends up being turned in with the elastic casing, which adds bulk, but the denim I used was thin, so I don’t think it matters too much.

I like the idea of using a plain pattern and adding little details to make it more interesting. There aren’t a whole lot of patterns for little boys. You’ll probably see more of these soon. Also, later this week, I’ll be posting a couple other recycled sweater projects.

Hello friends, no new collages for a few days while I try to finish something before a deadline. And I know I owe many of you emails - I haven’t forgotten you!

Here’s something I’ve been thinking about: translating a few of the collages into fabric form. I just love patterns and textiles, and in a perfect world, I’d someday do something related. And since I’ve been obsessed with babies and with making bibs for all the new babies in my life (just a few more days to go before the scheduled arrived of baby shiso bro!), a bib seemed like the perfect way to go.

(OK, don’t go crazy, but both F and I had dreams last night about my being pregnant - his dream was that I was pregnant, and I got mad at him because he didn’t take enough pictures of me while I was still skinny. !!

The collage, made a while ago:

The bib:

Does the spider need to sit on something? Or hang from a whatdoyoucallit? thread? Need to be a different color? I’m not entirely sold on the red binding.

Friends,

Doesn’t it seem like such a short while ago that it all started with a model and a wedding? Yes, my brother finally got hitched last year, and Taiwan’s tabloids were there to record it. And I think it’s time you knew the latest - they’re having a baby and SOON (like in a week!!). Those kids function on Chinese time! I wish I could see Mrs. Shiso Bro with her big pregnant belly, but she’s probably such a luminescent, glowing pregnant lady that not only will I NOT be able to stand next to her statuesque model-ness, I will never be able to get pregnant again. (Although as a side note, when she was starting to show but was not obviously pregnant yet, she overhead some people on the subway say, “Hey, isn’t that that model? Man, she got FAT!”)

It’s so weird thinking about my brother as a father. Even though he’s five years older, to me he’ll always be the same guy making inappropriate jokes and comments that he was when he was 16. I’m excited to go back to Taiwan this summer to meet the baby and squeeze her little feet.

And yes, folks, I did say “her.” They’re having a girl! And of course I had to make something to welcome her to this world. Ah, but choosing the colors was a little difficult. My sister-in-law doesn’t like girl-y colors (NO pink!), and is all about gender-neutral - in fact prefers neutral colors and few to no patterns, so I wanted to make that would suit her tastes. I ended up sewing her a quilt in shades of whites, off-whites and ivories. Maybe not the smartest, since the little one is sure to get baby bits all over it, but it seems appropriate at the same time to give a baby something white. Not surprisingly, it’s a pretty simple, spare design. Here it is, starting to get that quilt-y, just out of the wash look (perhaps also known as the “I can’t quite sew a quilt that well yet” look):

It’s hard to tell from the pictures, but there are these subtle variations not just in color, but in fabric weave and weight, and I loved how they looked next to each other. I managed to find a lovely Japanese print that I adore for the backing, hopefully subtle enough for Mrs. Shiso Bro - it’s a maize yellow color with small, subtle splashes of green, tan and deep purple. I hand-stitched a brown binding to finish it off.

Gender neutral, just as the mom-to-be likes. Now, anyone have any suggestions for gender-neutral girl names? Anyone? Anyone? A little more creative than Pat or Chris, please. And if your name suggestion is actually chosen, I promise to send you a prize of some sort. Free stuff, people!!

(Edited to add: not something too unusual that my people can’t pronounce or understand since they are in Asia.  When I first told my brother we were naming our son Otis, he said, “Oh, is that final?”) 

** PS - As though it weren’t unfair enough to be born with the right parts to be a model (or to be married to one), they are getting all kinds of discounts and free stuff, including free cord blood banking. Am I the only one who thinks that this is just an evil plot to clone models and fill the world with them???