Teacher Gifts Part 2: Roll-up Tote Bag & Coffee Cozy

O. didn't really have any ideas about what he wanted to give his teacher, so I suggested this roll-up tote bag along with a coffee cozy.  He came along to the fabric store with me and immediate picked out a grey and yellow print, which I loved.  Well done, O!  It was conveniently grouped with other coordinates, so he chose a yellow to go with it and we found a matching polka dot in the remnant bin.  He also chose a yellow flower button for the cozy.

Construction of the bag was pretty standard.  If/when I make another one, I'll probably use a slightly longer piece of elastic cord.  This one seemed to be stretched to the limit when the bag was rolled up.

Teacher Gifts Part 1: Aprons & Coffee Cozies

School ended last Tuesday, so as one would expect, I spent most of Monday desperately sewing.  I had decided a while ago to make E's teacher and para each an apron after they raved about the raffle apron, but I was waffling about her therapists and O's teacher (whose gift will comprise of Part 2).  I don't think I came to a final decision until Sunday afternoon, and then I had a fabric crisis when one of the pieces I bought had a big flaw that I couldn't work around, so I had to make a mad dash back to Joann's before they closed Sunday night.  Clearly, I'm never going to learn to do things ahead of time.

E's teacher and para both commented about how they liked that the neckline of the earlier apron I'd made wasn't straight across like so many are.  That was from a pre-printed panel, though, so I looked around for quite a bit trying to find one with a similar neckline.  I ended up buying the Urban Wrap pattern, which has the added bonus of being very adjustable size-wise.

They sewed up quickly, probably took me just a bit longer than an hour for each one. The instructions were thorough, and she also included a handy one-page quick reference.  I think there was only one step that I needed to refer to the more in-depth instructions. 

This is the first one I made, for E's para.

I  made her teacher's red, since she wears a lot of red.  I'm hoping it's because she really likes it and not just because it's the school color.  Ha.

I'm starting to look a little crazed in this one, as I still had loads of sewing to do and it was getting late!  Plus, I feel like a dork posing, but I always like to see things on a person.

I also made them matching coffee cozies and one for each of the therapists as well.

They were quick too, and fun to sew up. I used Insul-Bright instead of batting.

When I was buying gift cards, I asked the woman for empty cups to put them in, but I didn't notice until I got home that they were smaller than the Tall, so the cozies are a bit large on them. 

Tiny Suspenders

A few weeks ago, Ray and his mom were talking about how our newest nephew is the spitting image of his dad (the baby's dad, not Ray's dad), who always wears suspenders.  My MIL told him how she thought it would be hilarious to give him baby suspenders, which led to us saying, "Oh, we can find those online!"  Turns out you can't find them for kids under 9 months, probably because it's kind of silly to have a baby who's just laying around all day wear suspenders.  Are his pants really going to fall down?  I think not.

Fortunately, there's a tutorial for everything, suspenders included.  I asked around on Facebook for someone with a 4-6 month old to get some measurements for me, and sewed up some itty-bitty suspenders.

In the off chance that you should ever need to make tiny suspenders yourself, I cut the elastic pieces 21" long.  I know my SIL thought they were funny, but I'm not sure if he's actually worn them (those buckles seem uncomfortable for a baby!), so I can't vouch for the fit.