Patterns to Share

I like to make my own patterns sometimes so decided to share some here when I can come up with the time to write out the instructions.

Fort Fun For My Boys

When my boys were young, keeping them entertained--especially during the summer required some creativity. One of the materials I discoverd one summer was PVC pipe and connectors. PVC can be a wonderful material for creative building and I ended up created a building kit that let them build a light-weight frame, to make play forts and tunnels--think of it as very large tinker toy set.

It was great for indoor or outdoor play, they could throw blankets over it and have a fort. They could try and re-configure the pieces to make forts with more than one “room” in them. I also picked up some metal "claw" like drapery hooks to help hold the blankets on to the pipe.

Along the way, I discovered that by adding a water attachment system and drilling some pin-holes in a few of the pipes, it turned into a sprinkler run and backyard water park.

The specific pieces to the set I made allowed my boys to reconfigure the set-up into different shapes and functions on their own.

I think this is a project that other mothers or fathers might enjoy with their kids so I’ve put together a parts list and some diagram instructions for building a basic fort and basic water run. These instructions are available here free of charge, for personal use ONLY and are not allowed to be copied for commercial use. So, click here for a downloadable PDF of the instructions (2.44 mb file size). Take a look and have fun with your kids this summer.

Easy to Make Simple Bear

I am the adoptive mother of three special needs boys. All three of my boys have needed extensive therapy throughout their lives–and will continue to need it. One day, I was talking with my youngest son’s attachment therapist and she mentioned how much teddy bears can help her with some of her patients and how she wished she had a simple pattern to make teddy bears. She was not big on sewing, but wanted a way to make something personal for some of the children she dealt with.

I’m sure there are patterns out there like mine, but this was specifically developed for her. I wanted something that wouldn’t take cutting out more than two pieces and that needed little instruction.

Here is the pattern for this bear simple bear pattern (161 KB) Here are the instructions simple bear directions (903 KB)

I also created an outfit pattern for added fun. Here is the pattern simple bear outfit pattern (83 KB) and here are the instructions simple bear outfit directions

Santa Head Ornament

For many years, I would come up with a new ornament to make each Christmas as gifts for friends and family. Not everyone is into receiving home-made gifts but most people will add an ornament to their christmas decorations--especially if it looks nice.

This one is relatively easy to make and is especially good as a group project. The materials are pretty inexpensive, about the only one that might be harder to come by is the Jumbo Loopy chenille for the beard. You could use a white plush or fur fabric instead. Here is a PDF of my pattern and instructions Santa Head Ornament (743kb)

Wrist Pin Cushion

Anyone who has ever seen me in my craft room has usually seen me wearing one of these. There are versions on the market, but most have hard plastic wrist bracelets. I wanted something soft, that could stay on my arm for hours comfortably. After searching around for some time, I decided to make my own. This pattern is simple and is a good use of scrap cloth. If you can’t find chipboard, use matt board. You need something to hold the shape and to protect your arm from pins. Wrist Pincushion (536 KB)

I Call it a Harf

It isn’t exactly original. I had a knitted hooded scarf that I really liked. I have no idea where I got it or when, it seems like I’ve always had it and it was getting old and worn out. I wanted to make myself a new one, but I don’t knit–not only that, but I couldn’t find a pattern. So I created my own pattern.

As simple as the concept is, it took a bit of experimentation to get the exact proportion to the hood. I like to make them out of fleece because it is warm and soft. It can be worn several different ways and I know everyone I’ve given one to as a gift has found it to be very useful so I’m sharing the pattern. Harf Pattern (274 kb)

Paper Mini Boxes

This is a fun little pattern for a paper trinket box. These are small (about 2″ square by 1 and 5/8″ high. Great for jewelry and little items like that. You can print it off on to pretty paper and then spray mount it to a thicker paper stock, or pick up some light card stock made for desktop printers and print directly on to it.

I like to add personalization–but you have to have access to some good graphics software to do that so I’ve made a PDF pattern that you can simply print out ( Mini gift box 308KB) AND, I’ve made a Word Doc file ( Mini Gift Box 70 KB) that allows you to make some changes and customize. Create your own custom trinket boxes with this pattern.

Easy to Make Gift Bags

Last year I decided to “go green” and wrap ALL of my holiday gifts in re-usable gift bags. I took advantage of after-holiday fabric sales and “Christmas in July” sales to amass a bunch of holiday fabric.

It was a lot of work, but not as much as I thought it would be. For me, sewing is fun and I can do some things pretty quickly so it really wasn’t much more time consuming than traditional paper wrapping (especially since I like to decorate every package).

Friends and extended family members got a kick out of opening their beautifully decorated bags and my Christmas tree looked particularly festive with all the beautiful fabric covered gifts and decorative ribbons. So, even though my kids thought it a bit odd at first, it turned out to be a real success (and I have all the bags I used for the family to use again this year). So, if you want to download a PDF of how I made my bags, just click here gift bag1