The Fabric Ninja Protector

Sometimes, I need to admit that I can't do everything myself.

I can lay tile, I can keep bees, I can cook, but I can't create a pattern for something that I've never seen.

Thankfully patterns can be procured by PDF :)

Armed with my trusty $50 laser printer, I set out to create a slipcover for my friend's Kinderpack. We had had a friendly "Kindervention" online and convinced her that she was becoming a KP hoarder. As a result she sold her Dinomite, with the promise of a Dino slipcover. This occurred at about the same time that the lovely Alice from FabricNinja.com approached me about reviewing her pattern for this blog (which has become very KP centered lately).  I'm not going to lie. I HATED writing book reviews in high school, and managed to talk my way out of the dreaded ATL classes at Michigan State (Go Green!); having a blog is really an odd outcome for someone with my aversion to writing.

Anywho. Alice offered me the pattern to review, I needed a standard size slipcover pattern, she's also an MSU grad, so how could I say no?

So, without further ado, I bring you my review of The Fabric Ninja's Ninja Protector.

This pattern is available for $7, payable by PayPal, and arrives to you by email. It is in PDF form, and is 18 pages long. It's ok, nature nerds and tree huggers*, you don't have to print it all! You need to print at least 5 pages, which are where the actual patterns are located. The remaining 13 pages are very detailed instructions on how to print the pattern, how to cut your fabric, and how to assemble your carrier. For those of you who have never used a PDF pattern, it's very important that you follow the printing instructions. If you don't, your standard slipcover becomes a doll carrier slipcover.

The pattern prints out on 5 pages, and contains 3 pieces: the headrest, the sides and the center. The headrest is printed on one page, the sides are made up of two pieces, as is the center. Make sure you have some of your own limited edition, one of a kind tape so that you can hook the pieces together prior to cutting out your fabric. There are convenient little crosshairs that you line up, and voila, two pieces become one.

This pattern requires about 1/2 a yard of fabric for each side of the slipcover. There are layouts included in the instructions for maximizing your fabric. If you are mixing fabrics on each side, you can use a fat quarter. Alice has included a very detailed supply list which gives different options for closing the headrest pocket and attaching the cover to your carrier.

Stitching the cover is easy, the pieces line up well. I had a moment of sheer panic at the size of cover, as I've never seen a standard KP and was CERTAIN that it wasn't going to fit. It looked so tiny! Toddler KP's must be massive compared to the standards. Included in the instructions are ideas on finishing the seams. Since we are getting ready to renovate and move, my serger is packed up. I used the handy dandy finishing stitch on my machine instead. I also took the suggestion to pink the inside of the headrest seam to finish and notch in one step. (BRIILLIANT!)

The size of the pieces seriously concerned me. Here are the pieces compared to my homemade toddler cover pattern.

Once the pieces were all assembled, I topstitched everything. I don't know what it is about topstitching, but I like it. I decided not to put in the optional elastic along the hem, and did a plain hem instead.  On the headrest, I put in the snaps to close the pocket, and then got creative and did something a little different on the snaps to connect the carrier to the cover. It seemed like a good theory, but in practice, it made the cover pull oddly. That's why you don't ad lib. If you undo the snap, it stops pulling and lays nice. Live and learn.

Once I gave everything a good pressing, I shipped it 1200 miles to a waiting carrier. This is the result:

Honestly, I am thrilled with the results. This cover looks better than I could have possibly imagined.  Other than the wonky snaps, it's PERFECT!

Here's a quick summary:

Pro's:

VERY affordable

• At $7, this is a steal. It's well worth paying the equivalent of a McDonald's breakfast to avoid the headache of fitting a pattern. Trust me. Totally. Worth it.

Easy to Print

• I love the instant gratification of PDF patterns, and I don't need to carefully refold it. I can toss it and print another one. But I won't, because that would kill trees ;)

Detailed Directions

• The instructions are easy to follow and explain everything that you need to do from how to print the pattern to how to top stitch your strap openings.

Customizable Options

• When you order your pattern, you can choose from 1 cm (what I chose) or 1/2 inch seam allowances.
• The different options for the headrest closure are listed.

Fits B-E-A-Utifly

• Just look at the pictures!

Con's:

Too Detailed

• If you sew a lot, you might get bogged down in the instructions as they are really detailed.

Snap Issue

• This isn't really the pattern's fault. Since Kinderpacks are handmade, there is a little variation in the headrest snap placement. This is no problem if you are making it for your own KP. If you are sending it to the other side of the country, be aware that the snaps might be off a little and it might pull funny.

Short Hem

• I think the hem allowance could be a little bigger to better accommodate the elastic if you choose to use it.

Too Many Closure Options

• I'll admit that I got a little lost while I was trying to decipher what type of snap I needed to use and where to put it. There were too many choices and I got lost.

The Bottom Line:

This pattern rocks. If you want to make your own slipcover, buy it. Do it. Why are you waiting? Having made my own pattern for my toddler KP, I know that it can be really difficult to get something that fits really well. Save yourself the aggravation and get the pattern. Alice also has a curved drool pad pattern available for a buck that is a heck of a lot easier to sew than my overly complicated version.

The pattern is available at FabricNinja.com, or Facebook.com/thefabricninja

*I'm personally a tree hugger, but many of my friends prefer to be called nature nerds.

Disclaimer: I got the pattern for free for evaluation purposes.

An Ode to a Seam Ripper

Your point is sharp.

My mistakes, you fix.

Sometimes I use you just for kicks.

Though I have many,

You're never near.

I can't find you when I need you, 

I fear.

And so I buy yet another

from internet or fabric store.

And I when I do, I find you.

Hiding in the junk drawer.

Stay at Home Mama's Quick and Dirty Guide to SSC Covers (2 of 2)

Hopefully, you read part 1 and have your SSC slipcover pattern in hand. These instructions are meant to help you get a slipcover when $ or time won't let you order one of the beautiful custom covers that are available on Etsy or other sites. Those ladies (and maybe some gentlemen) do beautiful work and have figured out the nuances of each cover size.

Thanks to the awesome mama at Stash Shot Seamstress (https://www.facebook.com/stashshotseamstress), there are a few updates to my little tutorial. They are in red.

This is the Quick and Dirty version.

The impetus for this was an upcoming trip to see a Pirate exhibit. I tend to go overboard with things, and as such, I NEEDED my carrier to involve Pirates. I have Jolly Roger drool pads for my carrier, but quite frankly, they don't look good with my two Kinderpacks. I'd like a solid black Kinderpack, but $ and availability have conspired to prevent that. The next best thing would be to order a custom black cover, but again $ and time conspired against me.  So, I looked in the basement, found some fabric and away we go.

This project took me about half a day and was basically free (My basement kind of looks like it belongs on Hoarders due to all the fabric).

Materials

1/2 yard of Fabric A

1/2 yard of Fabric B

Thread to match each

Sewing machine

Scissors

Pins

General sewing knowledge
1/4 Yard Interfacing (medium wt fusible)

1. Using your pattern that you drafted in part one, cut out your panels. For a Kinderpack, I used 2 side panels of each fabric, 2 headrests of each fabric and 1 center panel of each fabric. To further complicate this, I used a mix of fabrics for each side. Cut out four headrests from interfacing and fuse to the headrest pieces.

Chevron for the center, black for the sides.

2. Stitch the side panels to the center panel. Make sure you have the tops lined up so the center panel isn't upside down (let's not talk about that) and topstitch the seams. I turned my seam allowances to the side panels. Also, you could clean finish your seams. I JUST cleaned the hoard basement, and my serger was waaaaaay up on a shelf, so I decided to zig zag my raw edges instead.

It dawned on me that the black was too hard to see against, so I'm using the inside grey for the rest of the pictures.
Yes, I'm ironing on my stove. Small house = no ironing board.

Uh, yeah. I sewed my center panel upside down. I don't care. It still works.
Quick and Dirty, remember?

3. Do this to the other set of fabric, too.

4. Turn the seam allowances down on the dog eared corners of the side panels. This is going to be where the shoulder straps come out. Press them and stitch a narrow hem.

You should do this 4 times. 2 on the lining, 2 on the outside.

5. Turn up the seam allowance on the straight edge of one headrest piece. Press and top stitch in a narrow hem. Do this to one of the other set as well (i.e. I have one grey and one black done like this).

6. Stitch the unhemmed and hemmed headrest pieces right sides together at the curved edges. You should have 2 sets, don't stitch all four together. Turn. Topstitch.

I put buttonholes on mine so that the snaps on the KP hood would fit through and work. This proved unsuccessful and I ended up just hacking holes in it with my embroidery scissors.
Quick and Dirty.

7. Stitch sides of body panels together. Leave open where side buckles go through. Press open seam. Topstitch on each side.

8. Stitch headrest on appropriate side. Finish edge, press seam towards body and topstitch.

My fancy, shmancy machine has a neat serger like stitch that I always forget about.
Like all the threads from where I tore it apart 15 times?

9. Stitch the two halves together for about 1 1/2 inches between the headrest and the openings where the shoulder straps go. Don't get the headrest stuck in it.

10. Hem the bottom. I really thought I had a picture of this. Whoops.

11. Cut all the threads. I tend to skip out on this. I need to be better.

12. Dress your carrier

Perfect?
No.
 Good enough for what it's for? YES.
Is the center panel upside down?

I thought we weren't going to talk about that.

I'd add some action pics, but I have this thing about my kids' faces on the internet. 

Plus I'd feel inclined to wash and brush my hair, which just isn't in the cards today.

So, the upside down panel was KILLING me. I had to fix it. So, here is the updated cover, with interfaced headrest and my beautiful Mr. Hollywood and his bed head.

Good luck!!

Stay at Home Mama's Quick and Dirty Guide to SSC Covers (1 of 2)

I really enjoy wearing my kids around. 

Not so much in a "Oh, togetherness, how sweet" way.

More in a "keep the Gnome* from running off while Hollywood** is contained in the shopping cart" way.

Those who wear your babies with a wrap, congratulations. You have a coordination and skill level that I just cannot comprehend. I've tried, I've failed, I bought some SSC's.

I love the ease of SSC's. I don't look like a drunk string bean trying to put my kid on my back in an SSC. I do with a wrap, or a mei tai. My gateway SSC was a Snugli that I got second hand. Then I got another Snugli (again, second hand, remember the name of my blog?). Then I learned that those weren't the best, and I got an Ergo. My Ergo is beautiful, it is comfortable, but it is also too small for the Gnome. Then Kinderpacks entered my life. These are AMAZING. They are comfortable, there are a MILLION limited run prints. They have a cult-like following on Facebook. They are also pricey. Not wrap conversion Tula pricey, but close. 

Of course, I bought 2.

Turns out, 2 is never enough. 

Some enterprising people have started businesses creating covers for Kinderpacks and other SSC's. They do BEAUTIFUL work, and this post is not meant to cause any competition for them. This post is born from the need to get a cover very quickly, and very cheaply. You can easily use a T-shirt to slipcover a SSC, but I didn't have an appropriate shirt on hand. I did, however, have a lot of fabric.

So, without further ado, here is how to make a reversible cover for your SSC.  Part one will be pattern drafting, part 2 will be assembly.

* Dear Son #2. He looked like a garden gnome when he was born.

** Dear Son #1. Typical Hollywood baby. He would even pose for the camera. At birth.

Materials For Pattern drafting

Foam Board

Marker

Pins

Sewing gauge or small ruler or nifty dual tracing wheel thingy

Scissors

1/2 yard of muslin or the like (optional, for making a fabric pattern)

Instructions

This is loosely based on instructions I once saw for "cloning" a well fitting bra. I think it was a sewing magazine sometime between 2000 and 2006. The carrier I'm using is a Toddler Kinderpack. If you are covering a different SSC, you will need to adjust, but the principle is the same.

1. Place your carrier on the foam board, flattening out one panel (if your carrier has more than one piece making up its body). Place pins straight into the board on all of the seams. Think of your carrier as a beautiful, rare butterfly that you want to frame and hang on your wall. Pin every inch or closer on the seams and along the edges.

Side panel flattened out. Maybe Effervescence wasn't the best print to use.

Pins go right in the seam.

Make sure you pin all around the sides.

2. Remove the pins and scootch the carrier over a few inches. Then do this again for the other panel. On a Kinderpack, you will need to do this for the middle panel, and again for the headrest.

3. Remove all the pins and your carrier and admire your handiwork. It should look like a crazy connect the dots with all the little pin holes. (I highlighted a few so they are visible).

Sorry for the TERRIBLE pictures. I broke the good camera.

4. Connect all the dots. This will give you a good approximation of the panels on your carrier.

5. Using your ruler/seam gauge/fancy tracing wheel thingy, add seam allowances to your pattern piece. I use 15 mm because that's where the line is on my fancy shmancy sewing machine. On the bottom of the piece, add a BIG seam allowance. I think I did 1 1/2 inches.

6. Do all these steps for all the pieces. I ended up with this:

7. At this point, you have a choice. You can be cheap, like me, and trace the pattern pieces onto fabric or paper so that you can reuse the foam board later, or you can just cut out the foam board to use as your pattern. Your choice. 

Thus ends how to make your pattern. If you are still feeling ambitious, find about a yard of fabric and come back for part two, which will be posted when my kids let me.

Pumpkinapalooza 2014 Part 1

I love Ned Stark.


So, since we have a hobby farm, we have a lot of manure. And by a lot, I mean tons. Literally tons of poop,

What do you do with tons of cow poop (some of it from a bull ::snicker snicker::)? You spread it on the garden, and by you, I mean your husband who wanted the stupid cows and the farm in the first place.

FYI, 36 large wheelbarrow loads of manure weigh approximately 2 tons in toto.

What does any of this have to do with my beloved Ned Stark? It's basically a longwinded explanation of why my garden, with 3 pie pumpkin plants, has produced 20+ pie pumpkins.

Last fall, I pressure canned 2 or 3 pumpkins, and it produced 9 pint jars of pretty, orange, pumpkiny goodness.

If we do the math, I'm going to have a lot of jars of pumpkin this year.

As a result, I'm searching the Devil's Website  Pinterest for as many pumpkin recipes as I can try out before either a) my family rebels, b) I run out of pumpkin or c) my pants stop fitting due to the pumpkin and cream cheese overload.

With this in mind, I bring you my first three days of Pumpkinapalooza 2014.

Day 1: Pumpkin Spice Cookies

My husband has a friend, who has a wife. She makes pumpkin cookies in the fall. It's a ritual. I though I'd try my hand at it, so I texted her to find out the recipe, since I had seen on The Devil's Website that there was a method with spice cake mix and pumpkin puree. She said that she had gotten the recipe in college from a roommate and that it involved molasses, but she would get it for me later.

Well, that sounds like too much work.

Enter the 3 ingredient recipe: Pumpkin, Spice Cake Mix, and Chocolate Chips.
Yup. Got all three (I have a slight cake mix problem. I love Duncan as much as Ned, and have to stock up when I see a sale).

So, a pint jar of home canned pumpkin (drained), a Duncan Hines Spice Cake Mix, and a handful of chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate because that's what the farmer likes), 20 minutes at 350, and I had a dozen and a half big, cakey pumpkin spice cookies.

The Verdict: Pretty Good
My toddlers liked them, my husband liked them, my friend's toddlers liked them, and the friend with the recipe involving measuring and molasses? Yeah, she liked them.





Day 2: Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese frosting


Um. Yeah. I like cupcakes.

We recently had a family tragedy, and lost the teen son of my husband's cousin. When babies are born, or people pass, I make food.

Nothing I can say can make people feel better, but never underestimate the power of Lasagna.

I spent a day making food, and as an afterthought, decided to make some cupcakes.

Pinterest spit this out at me: http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2013/11/16/favorite-pumpkin-cupcakes/

It went together quick, it made exactly 14 perfect cupcakes, and it was easy.

I made my own version of cream cheese frosting:
Brick of cream cheese
Stick of butter
(These should be softened, but I never think about that in time, so I just throw them in my Kitchenaid with the whisk at high speed. They get soft in a hurry.)
A splash of vanilla extract (Get it at www.beanilla.com or www.spicejungle.com Seriously. Go there.)
Powdered sugar (I'm not really sure of how much I used. 2 cups, maybe? 3?)
Pinch of sugar.

Kitchenaid everything together, and stop when you have frosting that tastes right.


Verdict: MAKE THEM!

Seriously, stop what you are doing, and make them. They were amazing. People that don't like pumpkin or cream cheese thought they were amazing. The only negative comment that I got was from an 8 year old who told me I put too much frosting on them.

Whatever, kid. You're 8. I'm not going to listen to you for much of anything.

I actually considered making a second batch after dropping off the bereavement food, but after 2 hours in the car, getting home to make the farmer's dinner, and getting two toddlers ready for bed, I was done for the evening.

Day 3: Lazy Girl Pumpkin Rolls

It is socially irresponsible to throw out food.

Especially cream cheese frosting.

Yesterday's cupcakes had too much frosting, according to the 8 year old, yet we still had some extra frosting left over.

So, I created the lazy girl Pumpkin Rolls

Take a sheet of Pillsbury Recipe Creations Crescent dough (it's about time that they started selling sheets of this without the triangular scoring) and unroll it onto a piece of parchment or wax paper.

In a bowl, mix a half cup of brown sugar, a half cup of pumpkin and a healthy teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice. I also added 2 tablespoons of flour because my pumpkin seemed especially moist.

Roll up from a short end.

Use thread (or dental floss) to cut it into 6 or 7 pieces.

Place in a greased pan and bake at 350 for 25 minutes or so. Maybe start checking in at 20 minutes.

Let cool a bit and top with leftover cream cheese frosting.

Result: Worth making again.

I may have put too much spice in mine, I used a regular spoon and heaped it up pretty good. The frosting helped to cut the spice.

Even with too much spice, I intend on eating the entire pan. The filling almost has a pumpkin pie texture. It's interesting.

DIY Corner Drool Pads for Kinderpack

Hello, all!

This is going to be a rambling post on how to make corner, or curved, drool pads for a Kinderpack.

I recently bought a Kinderpack, and I know my little snotballs  darlings like to drool, slime and otherwise mangle the straps of my trusty Ergo, even though they are really too old to be doing so.

So, since I am cheap, I'm making my own protective drool pads.

Since I'm fancy, I involved embroidery.

Since I'm nice, I'm sharing the pattern I made.

****Disclaimer. I am in no way, shape or form a professional pattern maker. Use this at your own risk. It worked for me. I also am assuming that you know how to use your sewing machine, pins, thread, scissors, etc.

Shrug.

So, here we go.

Materials:

• Fabric of your choice - You will need 1/4 of a yard for each side (I used Robert Kaufman Effervescence in Lime for one side, and Kona Cotton in Basil for the other - both were 44" wide - I cannot speak to whether or not a fat quarter would work, I haven't tried it.)
• Batting (You can use thin quilt batting, terry cloth, a couple layers of flannel, polar fleece, etc. I used cotton quilt batting. When I refer to batting in the instructions, I am talking about whatever you chose to put in the middle of your drool catchers.)
• Thread to match
• Closures of your choice (I use Kam snaps and pliers. If you don't have these, you can use hook and loop tape (such as Velcro). You need about 1/3 yard of sew on Velcro if you go this route.)
• Scissors
• Pins
• Sewing Machine
• Ruler
• Pattern (Print it out with no scaling. It is designed on 8.5"x11" paper. The little square should be 1 inch on each side).
  

How to put it together.

**** SEAM ALLOWANCES ARE 1/4" ****

• Cut out your pattern, and cut out your fabric. 
• Make sure that you cut 1 set of fabric with the printed side of the pattern up, and one side with the printing down. Otherwise, you will have issues. The pattern is only for the 'skirt' of the drool pad.
• For the 'body' of your drool pad (the part that actually wraps around the strap) you need to cut out rectangles that are 7" by 10". You need two of the the fabric, two of the batting and two of the backing. *** EDIT: So, thinking about this, you might be better off cutting the body 10.5" or 11" by 7". This will solve a problem later. I'm blonde.
  
  This is my body fabric.   (Remember I said I'm fancy? I broke out my embroidery machine to try to do some of the bubbles off of the fabric. Took ALL DAY to program.)
  
  

This is the backing of my 'skirt' being used as a pattern on my pretty pretty fabric.

• Sew the top of your 'body' together. Start with your batting, then your fabric and backing RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER. Don't bother turning it right side out yet. Mine looks a little wonky because I wanted some of the backing to show on the front side. It will make sense at the end.
  
  
  
• Pin the batting for your 'skirt' to the back of one of your fabrics. It doesn't matter if it's your backing or your "pretty" fabric as long as its on the WRONG SIDE of it. You will now treat those pieces as one pattern piece. For those of you with sewing experience, pretend it's an underlayment. I pinned mine to the back of my pretty fabric.
  
• Sew the  ends of the 'skirt' pieces together. The pattern pieces are labelled A, B and C. Sew the slanted end of A to the larger slanted end of B. Sew the Slanted end of C to the remaining slanted end of B. Do this with the backing fabric, too.
  
  
  
  

Here's where my picture taking got lazy. I have two small children. One is potty training. I live on a farm. It's harvest season. 

Forgive me.

• Pin the top of the 'skirt' to the bottom of your body.  Keep the batting towards your pretty fabric (not a big deal if you don't, but it's the best way to keep track of the batting. Do the same with your 'skirt' made of backing. I screwed up on the pattern and had a little bit of overhang on the short ends of the skirt. You can trim it off. It was about 1/4". ***EDIT: Yeah. If you cut the body a little larger, you don't have this problem, and the pads fit better with the PFA's fully tightened. Again, blonde.
  

• Sew your skirts onto your body. 

• Turn the whole shebang so that the RIGHT SIDES of the fabric are facing each other.

• Sew down the side of the body, across the bottom of the skirt and back up the side of the body. **** Make sure to leave a few inches unsewn so you can turn the drool pad right side out****

• Turn right side out. Poke a chopstick or something (I usually end up using a screwdriver) to make the corners pointy. It should look something like this:
  
  
  

This is the back side of mine. See how it's kind of poufy? We'll fix that.

• Next, topstitch 1/8" in from all edges. This will make it less poufy, more finished, and will close up the opening from turning it.

• Finally, add the closure of your choice. I used snaps, and I didn't get a picture of them. Lame 

**EDIT: Here's a picture on the kinderpack :)

So, was this helpful? Leave a comment!