Souvenirs

What do you do when you travel and want to bring a T-shirt for your older kid, but they don't have the right size? Even the airport shops let you down?

Well, you copy the T-shirt design and have the T-shirt printed in your local T-shirt-printig-shop :-)

These are Latvian pagan symbols, representing luck and success, wisdom and wealth.

Music

A few days ago I was reminded by a very good friend of mine of Cohen's Anthem. 

It brought back memories...

Yes, this is a T-shirt I painted with the album cover.

But then I accidentally heard Gabriel Bruce's El Musgo. 

And I am happy.

Green Ninjago T-shirt

Just in time for MiniMojcek Nr.1's sixth birthday I finally managed to finish the green Ninjago T-shirt!

Starting with two identical white long-sleeved T-shirts, I dyed one green. I just couldn't find a suiting plain green T-shirt in the shops.

Then I cut a "bib" out of the white T-shirt and sewed it on the inside of the front of the green one, creating the V neckline.

 Carefully cut the front...

And stitched it again.

Then it was time to start painting: first the additionall collar, then the silver pattern with black crosses, finally the belt.

But one should not forget the golden snake on the back!

Now he has a Kai sweater, a Zane T-shirt and the new Lloyd T-shirt.
He's happy.
For now.

Proud mum!

Life is extremely hectic at the moment - we are renovating the house, I'm writing two (not one, two!) books at a time, MiniMojcek Nr.2 started kindergarden way worse than we expected and MiniMojcek Nr.1 started school. The proper school. While the first two hours were terrible, the rest of the week was superb! He's got the most wonderful teacher and this is what he made on his second day at school: a self-portrait.

The inscription says "That's me" and you can surely recognise the Union Jack on the T-shirt he wore that day. That's my boy!

Bordeaux purple

I needed a black T-shirt and for some reason H&M sell only black and white T-shirts combined. I liked the black one, but white just isn't my colour. So I decided to dye it!

I bought some DEKA dyes in Bordeaux Red. The instructions are  fairly simple: wash, cook, rinse, fix, dry, wear :-)

 

 

Although I've dyed fabrics several times before, cooking a T-shirt still seems wrong.

I'm quite happy with the result - although the colour is much more purple than Bordeaux red. On the other hand - the colour is exactly the same as on the bag.

Ninjago Zane T-shirt

With Ninjago-mania of course came the request to make Ninjago T-shirt. MiniMojcek Nr.1's favourite ninja is Kai and he already has a Kai sweatshirt. So this time the request came to make a Zane costume. The white one. And what can a mother do than fulfill the request.

Zane's emblem is a golden lion. This is a just a rough sketch I made to check the size of lion's head.

 And the finished lion:

 The T-shirt has a fake belt (stitched on the T-shirt, but not all the way so that one can still tie a knot) and a stitched-on thingy at the neck.

 

I'm not quite happy with how the ropes turned out ... hmpf ... Let's just hope that MiniMojcek Nr. 1 likes the shirt.

But perhaps I can correct this the next time: I already have a request for the green ninja.

Four Arms costume

It's this time of year again - when all the sewing moms in this part of the world are extremely busy. It caught me a bit by surprise that MiniMojcek Nr. 1 had to wear the costume on Friday (and not on Tuesday as I expected it) so it was a bit rushed... but nevertheless, a success!

He already has the casual Ben 10 T-shirt and Ben 10 jacket, but now it was time to transform into Four Arms:


I started with two red and one white long-sleeved T-shirts, a pillow, a pair of gloves and a large grayish button.


I was hoping to use the original Ben 10 T-shirt but I realised that Four Arms wears a slightly different one. Oh, well..

I cut several tapes of black fabric (yes, I always have a bit of black Jersey at home) and sewed them onto the T-shirt. A large button was used as Omnitrix and painted accordingly (and yes, I always have a bit of black paint for ceramics, glass, plastic ... at home).


The additional arms were made from sleeves and the gloves, stuffed with the pillow filling, and attached to the white T-shirt.


But the arms just hung there, so I connected them to the primary arms :-)


In order to be able to wear a parka over the four arms, the connection had to be removable, so I used a pair of tiny plastic carabiners. Here I was just adjusting the length.


The hood was made in a rush, just two pieces sewn together approximately in the shape of the head with a black ribbon and four yellow eyes.


And a pair of black joggers and MiniMojcek Nr.1 was happy. So was I.


If I had more time, I'd also make the proper shoes and gloves.
But I didn't.
Oh, well.

Cowboy costume

To continue the costume saga of MiniMojcek Nr.1: I told you already that when he saw MrMojcek dressed as Lucky Luke, he wanted to be one as well. We settled for a generic cowboy costume.

He borrowed MrMojcek's hat that we bought so many years ago in Sydney, I cut a piece of red fabric to make the bandana and I cut an old H&M T-shirt to make the vest. Of course he needed "pockets" for his pistols (to make a long story short: I am NOT buying him pistols so he makes his own from Duplo bricks. Oh, well. Boys will be boys.). I made a very simple fleece belt with holsters and spurs.




He adored the costume and almost ran to the kindergarden to show it to the others. But when he got home, he greeted me on the door with the words:" We will make a pirate hat and sword like MiniMojcekNr.2's-best-friend has."

Notice that
a) he used the word "we" and not "you" and
b) he said "make" and not "buy".
That's my boy!

But this does not change the fact that the costume saga is not over yet.

Bob the Builder Costume - Part 1

Carnival is rapidly approaching so it's time to make a costume for MiniMojcek. As he is Ben10 or a cowboy pretty much every day, we decided to make a Bob the Builder costume:

(photo borrowed from the Internet)

First task was to find a red and orange long-sleeved T-shirt. But I failed. So I bought a plain white T-shirt and Deka Batik and Textile Dye Series L, Orange (39110).


I've never dyed fabrics before and although the process is a bit ... devilish... it turned out superb!



With a little help of the painter's tape:


and after a lot of dying and drying I'm very happy with the final result!


Not all edges are perfect but good enough, I'd say.

Continue to Part 2. I'm warning you, there is no part 3!

Ben 10 T-shirt

It's been ages since I last used a paint brush. You know, a real paint brush!



MiniMojcek is very fond of Ben 10 cartoon (I personally am not that fond of it but that is a whole different story. I do believe, however, that parents should support their kids in whatever they love and unless it's something really stupid - which it isn't - I don't really have a choice.) So, Ben 10:


I already bought him cargo pants, he got Omnitrix (the watch) for his fourth birthday and all he needed was a T-shirt (he'll get retro-Adidas shoes on a different occasion). So I had to make one:


Do I need to say that he LOVES it?

On this occasion I also dug up an old t-shirt that I painted fifteen years ago. Fifteen! I'm officially old.



UPDATE: See also the Ben 10 jacket