Patchwork Ball...Again.

We had a friend's 1st birthday party to celebrate a couple weeks ago. As I was thinking through what we should give him I decided to make him a patchwork ball. The one I made Violet a couple years ago still gets used around our house. Luke loves playing with it but the girls still play with it too. What do an almost 4 and almost 8 year old do with a cloth ball? They play catch with Luke, use it as a pillow, and the current discovery is playing indoor dodgeball.

How many plastic toys get used by that age range for this many years? Not many!

I just grabbed some different bright fabric scraps I had and sewed up this playful ball. This is a quick project and one of the benefits of making something for a 1 year old is being able to pick an assortment of colors and patterns. I just love the little lion print with all the geometric patterns. The ball pattern is from Anna Maria Horner's book Seams to Me.

What are some of your favorite gifts for toddlers?

Doll Carrier: Take Two

After making the doll carrier for Violet I made one for a friend's 7th birthday. The process was even faster this time since I was more familiar with the pattern. I choose to use some Anna Maria Horner fabric I had in my stash. Then I found some solids that coordinated for the pocket and straps.

Here you can see the velcro strip I used for both carriers. It makes for an adjustable carrier that will work for different size dolls and stuffed animals: as well as, allowing the carrier to work for years as the little girl grows. I hope it is a toy that gets lots of use.

Doll Carrier for Violet

I have wanted to join along in A Little Gray's sew along for awhile. Jessica is sewing a different project from Liesl Gibson's book, Little Things to Sew, each month and even though she is a few months in you can always join in now. The bear carrier was the project for January. I didn't quite finish in time but still wanted to share. Ever since we had Luke Violet has been loving her dolls and stuffed animals. She has tried using my carrier with her dolls but it is way too big so this was the perfect little gift for her. I used left over scraps from last year's Easter dresses. The print was a little too big for this little project so you don't see the animals very well. In the future I'll use a smaller print fabric. Overall I love the carrier. It came together surprisingly fast and I was able to use supplies I had already. I did not have a scrap of batting to use and instead of cutting into a new package I used a scrap of flannel I had. It worked well: giving the carrier enough stability while keeping it soft. We found that the straps kept falling off my little ones shoulders so one suggestion I'd make would be to cross the straps in the back. This seemed to help hold the carrier on much better. Also since Sydney is six but still likes to play dolls I wanted her to be able to use the carrier too. In order to make it work for a two year old and a six year old I just used long rectangles of velcro instead of just a square. This made the size quite adjustable and both our girls can play with it.

Large Fabric Ball

I made this ball for a friend's baby. He will be turning one this fall and is at a perfect age to play with a soft fabric ball. You may have seen a similar one here that I made last Christmas for Violet. I used the same pattern, found in the book Seams to Me from Anna Maria Horner, but I modified it just a bit. Whenever I try out a pattern or recipe I tend to follow the rules the first time and then immediately start making it my own by adjustments and changes. Sometimes these changes work out well and sometimes they fail. I've learned that by following guidelines closely the first time I learn a lot. When I'm seeking to learn a new skill or try something a little different, following the advice and steps of somebody more advanced them me is beneficial. But my creativity gets sort of antsy at just following along so I begin to think about ways to modify even during this process. Usually these ideas either stay buried in my head or scribbled down on a piece of paper somewhere. Occasionally they may get thought about and worked out enough to make it to creation.

For this ball, I used fabrics I had in my stash and scraps from other projects. Recently, I have been loving combinations of colors with gray so I just looked at what I had and started pulling out different options. In the end gray made only a small appearance and was mixed in with rich blues, greens, and browns.

When making toys for little ones I think lots of colors and patterns are perfect. I hope he plays with this for years to come.