After the resounding sucess of last spring’s kids clothes week challenge there was a call to have another when the temperatures cooled off a bit and I am glad to oblige.  The challenge will stay the same:

For one hour each day the week of September 20-26 work on making clothes for kids.

I’m going to soup it up a bit with a giveaway or two and maybe even a tutorial (if my camera is fixed by then). Mostly, though, it should be just like last time with scads of people sewing like crazy for their kids. If you didn’t participate last time or are on the fence this time, imagine what it would be like to have 200 people cheering you on and well, that’s what it felt like in the spring.  Just by working a little each day for one week you could have a beautiful winter coat made or all the christmas pajamas done or finally made something from that cute fabric you have been saving. Doesn’t that sound awesome?

I think most of us focused on sewing (and all the pattern tracing, fabric cutting, pinning, hemming and ironing that go with it) in the spring, but I don’t see why knitting and crocheting can’t count–though they are much slower going, so you can’t really be sure you will have a finished product at the end of the week, but then again, maybe the sewers can’t either! Warmer clothes can be a little more involved, but really pants are just long shorts–and I know you can make shorts. There was a fine showing of fall fashions from the southern hemisphere last time, so no whining that fall clothes take too long.

O.k. enough of me talking, time to sign up! Leave your name in the comments if you want to play along this fall. Feel free to take a button for your blog (you don’t have to have a blog to participate of course) and spread the word.

kcwc buttons:

(copy and paste the code under the buttons)

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kids clothes week reference:

inspiration and tutorial posts

• fall/winter clothes
• coats and sweaters
• warm things for baby
• hats, mittens and scarves
• halloween costumes

frequently asked questions

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Lake Michigan is so lovely–it’s like our little ocean here in the midwest.  It was hard to leave, but here we are back again and my daughter already in kindergarten (and me suddenly feeling like an old lady).  I promised updates on the fall edition of  the kids clothes week challenge and I am working on the buttons (graphic design not being my strong suit it takes a while) and the post, which you will get after labor day I hope–fitting because the summer will be officially over. Bring on Fall.

We are off to the lake for a week! I will be back with KCWC (kids clothes week challange, don’t you know) news and lots more.

See you then!

The other day we wrapped some tin foil in noodles. I thought they made for a pretty stylish necklace.

The project came from Todd Oldham’s awesome book Kid Made Modern. His first book, Handmade Made Modern, was decent, but this one is super fantstic. I think it’s aimed at kids around the ages 7-12, but there are some projects little ones can do and I would have loved it as a teenager–really even if you don’t have kids there are some super styish ideas you can steal.

In the book, Oldham takes mid century designers–Isamu Noguchi, Marimekko, Alexander Calder, Paul Rand, Charles and Rae Eames and so many more–tells you a little about them and their art and then presents a couple projects inspired by their work. The projects are organized by material–many of them recycled–or technique.   The printing, cardboard, tape and dye sections are some of my favorites, but I was taken by most of the projects.

I  didn’t mean for this to become a full on book review (I was just going to tell you about the noodles) but I think this is a fantastic craft book that is well put together and well thought out. And definitely not only for kids. If you feel like wrapping noodles in tin foil–you really don’t need the book for this project– but I would dab a little bit of glue on the noodle before you roll it up. We didn’t and I kept finding bits of tin foil around the house for the rest of the week.

Oh and look there is a kid made modern website with some extra projects and little videos, check it out!

We are going to the lake next week to swim and sit on the beach and do lots and lots of nothing.  I saw some beautiful linen towels online and thought I could pick up a couple yards of linen and make my own to take with us. I wanted to get 100% linen, but this striped rayon/linen blend was too awesome to pass up. I got 2 1/4 yards, left the salvages as is and hemmed the raw edges, then using this helpful tutorial (by the fabulous cal patch) I crocheted right into the fabric.

The edging pattern comes from the book Crocheting on the Edge* by Nicky Epstein, which has tons of edging patterns (duh) all given in both charted and written directions, which for me is super helpful.

*I have joined the amazon associates program, so if you follow this link and then buy the book you will also be putting a few pennies in the elsie marley cup. I’ve wanted to do this for a while, but been quite hesitant to because I don’t want to get all advertise-y on your ass.  But I’m not going to link to any random thing–wow, that be annoying.  I have books that I genuinely love and want to tell you about and, all told, the profits I’ll make will probably be enough to buy a cup of coffee.  So if you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee :) you can go over to my amazon book store and check it out!

Back to the project: I obviously haven’t finished the pattern yet–I have to put the fringes on, do the other side of the blanket and block it. It is a little more shabby chic then I would have liked, but next time I’ll just make the edging a little simpler.  The “yarn” I used cotton twine and I freakin love it: it’s smooth, just the right thickness (I’d say worsted weight size, but I could be talking out by ass here) and cheap as all get out.  I have already started another–bigger–project with it. And with any luck it will be full of sand and finished by the time we get back.