How to make a Mario or Luigi hat -

My kids are very particular when it comes to their costumes. They like all of the details to be just right, so a couple years ago when they wanted to have a Mario themed birthday party I started making prototypes of the hats that we'd give the guests as favors. After a few unsatisfactory attempts I finally came up with this version - which happily turned out to be the easiest to make. We ended up making 16 of these one evening. The kids were able to help tracing the circles and cutting them out, I just had to supervise and sew.

Polyester fleece is one of my favorite costume making materials. Like felt, there is no right side or wrong side and it doesn't fray so raw edges are fine. But unlike felt, fleece is stretchy and elastic, so measuring and sizing can be very casual. Since it's kind of thick it holds shapes really well and even really messy sewing gets blurred in the fuzz. My sewing machine usually needs to be cleaned after I work with fleece, but washing the material first gets rid of a lot of loose fibers. Sewing by hand is also a reasonable option for this project, and as crazy as it sounds safety pins or staples would also work.

Two hats can be made from half of a yard of fleece (1/4 yard will be too narrow.) These hats will fit anyone from a toddler to an adult.


Fold the fleece in half so that you are cutting out two pieces at a time. I use the lid from a 5 gallon pail to trace a circle on the fabric. (I use whatever marker I have around, it won't show.) You don't have to use a lid, you just need to make a circle with at least a 12" diameter.

Cut out the two circles and keep the corner that is left over - this is going to be the bill of the cap.
Round off the corner and cut off the thin ends.
On one of the rounds, trace a smaller circle. It should have about a 4.5" diameter. This is going to be the head hole. It seems small, but fleece is stretchy, remember?
These are all the parts cut out.

Sew the two rounds together about 1/2" from the outer edge. Sew along the outer edge of the bill.
Turn both pieces inside out.
Place the open edges of the bill along the edge of the small circle and stitch all 3 layers together.
The hat is now ready for the finishing touches.

I like to use white funky foam or fun foam - whichever you call it - to make a circle for the initial - trace the lid from a can of frozen juice concentrate if you want to keep the lid theme going . I use a safety pin to secure it in place, if you make the safety pin come out and go back in through the letter it will be almost invisible.

Black funky foam mustaches complete the look - we just attach them with double stick tape.

Lots of thrifting and treasures this week. I bought the beet, the pea pod and the carrot you see here a couple years ago when I was working at the nursery. There was a squash there too - but the week I decided to go ahead and buy these it was gone - someone bought it! After it sat there and collected dust for probably 3 years! So last week when I saw the squash at goodwill for $1.21 I grabbed it.

At a garage sale I found these - 32 cloth napkins made of linen - $2. Maybe a future embroidery project?
At the other goodwill - an apron kit from the fad-of-the-month club. Not even kidding, that is what it says. I love the little birdies, I guess there was whole co-ordinating set of pot holders, place mats, napkins, and the apron. I don't know about you, but I always make a point of matching what I wear with my pot holders and place mats!
Monday we visited our friends who now live in Athens, she gave me a box of fabric including this vintage pink/brown pattern. I have lots of ideas for things to make with it and probably won't run out, there are about 10 yards of it. Thanks Sondra!
A couple weeks ago I bought a bag of embroidery things at goodwill - I usually just buy the unfinished kits for the hoops and the unused floss - and this bit of yellow gingham with orange embroidery was in one of the bags. Today I made it into a wrap skirt for Hazel with some previously thrifted seam binding. She loves it - her favorite colors - and she said, "It's like one of those cooker skirts!" (She means an apron.)


And I made a wrap skirt for myself too - cut down from a muu-muu/housedress type thing that was in with the fabric from Sondra. It is a really cool patterned fabric, and now Hazel and I will be ready for our beach vacation coming up!

Moving-

I wish our house would sell and we could move, but no. Not yet, anyway. I've decided to consolidate all my blogs and throw in with Scott all one one single - hopefully updated regularly - blog here

Becca's basket

Since she called to thank me for it today, I can post pictures now. I sent her a personalized cell phone, two crochet chicks (I was on a chick kick before the ripple blanket derailed me,) a granny squares doll blanket that is folded up so you can only see the edges, a wind up egg laying plastic chicken, a water whistle, and a photo album of doubles of interesting pictures. Happy Easter Becca!

Stuff to hang on the walls-

So my house is for sale and even though we just had gorgeous pictures taken of the kids I'm trying to keep it all "impersonal." But the bare walls are making me sad - so here is what I have come up with:
Fabric in embroidery hoops - got the idea from Posy gets cosy (Yes, I'm copying her every move) who got the idea from the purl bee . . . I'll update when I get them up on the wall tomorrow.

Then I came across these cards that I saved from a trashed game so long ago that I can't even remember any more details, but I like them so I bought a few of these (50% off today!)
And with the help of my fav spray paint - rustoleum american accents in "oregano" - and some xmas paper from world market (since I don't actually use wrapping paper but can't resist pretty designs)I made these:


And closeups -

Hazel's bed

I bought the bed skirt and mattress at the twins club sale, then Scott and I made the bed frame yesterday. The flowery sheet is a recent goodwill purchase and I've been working on the blanket for a while now. I'm really happy with how it all came together!

flashback - re-do of the play stove

Glass knobs for the stove controls, old cds for the burners. I think it needs some kind of cute clock painted on it. . .

and in use (she's making pancakes)

update on the ripple blanket-

Took some time off but I'm back at it again - I might even join the Ripple-a-long that is going on out there.

funky foam cell phones-

Had way too much fun making these yesterday -
Scott and I (finally) got cell phones and part of the packaging was a piece of cardboard w/ a cellphone shape cut out of it. Dashiell used that to trace a 1 layer cellphone, and that inspired me to make a 3-d version.