It was long pondered because, you know what, it is soooo difficult to make cute things for boys (never mind the Celebrate the Boy month goings on right now). So I wanted a simple style, so I chose Pink Chalk Studio's mail sack pattern. It was everything everyone said it was -- just an all-out great pattern. I made the smaller size, which is a great fit for elementary school-aged children, particularly one picky first grader.
I drew the music symbols by hand and traced the mirror images onto a double-sided adhesive backing. I don't know anything about music (with the exception of teaching myself Jingle Bells this Christmas when we first got our piano), but the symbol above means play with the right hand, and the one below means play with the left hand.
I machine-stitched the applique. It didn't turn out quite as well as I wanted -- the tension on my machine was off just enough to be annoying.
The interior has a split patch pocket. With the fabrics, I used a linen and cotton blend for the exterior. It's really quite a hefty weave but very slippery to work with. The red gingham is by Robert Kaufman. Again, I wanted something simple and cute -- but not too cutesy.
It was easily executed, because the pattern was very simple with great directions. I'd be hard-pressed to mess this one up. The only variation was that I added the bias trim to the front yoke.
Finally, I say anti-climactic because after I did my photo shoot in the morning, I had the mail sack all packed and ready to go for the afternoon's piano lesson...Only to find that No. 1 had moved all his music books back to the ugly green, synthetic freebie-tote that he had been using for his books for the last year and a half. Sigh.
1 comment:
it's supercute. he'll come around. if not, bribery always works with s.
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