Tea Towel Robots

Last month I went with my husband Frank and my son Alex to the Tech Museum in San Jose to watch a showing of the movie Superpower Dogs in the IMAX theatre there. For information about our outing, see a post in my other blog Wander or Ponder dated  5/22/19. We visited the museum store where my husband spotted a pair of robot tea towels. Our grandson Isaiah is currently into robots – at least I think he still is – but what would a nearly 4-year-old boy do with tea towels? I could not think of a use for them at the time, but I bought them anyway. Sound familiar? A predominantly turquoise towel featured "Raptor ROBOT" who "shoots jets of fire" and has "amazing jet pack action"! Whoo-hoo!

A predominantly red towel featured mechanical punching "PUGILA" a fighting robot who has "seismic punching power"! Yeah!

Each tea towel measure 19½" wide by 26" long and is made of a rather coarse, rough, twill-type cotton fabric. I considered making them into sturdy drawstring bags where Isaiah could stash and haul around some toys. But if I folded each in half, the effect of the robot would be lost. If I made  bags in their full out dimensions, each would be too long and tall for a young boy to reach into and carry around. Plus drawstrings would crumpled up the robots within the gathers. I considered making them into pillowcases but the coarse fabric would be too rough on the face. I suppose I could back it with a softer fabric but then he'd have to sleep with the robot side facing down and what fun is that? Then I got the idea of sewing the two towels back to back and making a two-sided floor pillow or back pillow for watching TV or reading or just stretching on the floor. Maybe I could get or make a liner and stuff it with bean bag pellets. I'd put a zipper in the base of the joined tea towels to insert whatever I stuffed them with.

Since all four edges of the tea towels were finished off by folding over and sewing, I decided not to take out that stitching but rather incorporate it in the final product. Those folded over edges would become a sort of mini-flange on the pillow. Thread color on the folded over edges was chosen as the dominant color of the tea towel: turquoise on RAPTOR ROBOT and red on PUGILA. I would copy those colors and stitch right over them when I inserted a black 18" zipper in the base and when I sewed around the other three sides.

Here are the tools and threads I assembled. Red thread off a spool would go with turquoise and black thread bobbins which I happened to already have wound. No way was I going to try to pin through that heavy fabric but I used Clover Wonder Clips instead to hold  the two towels in position while I stitched. I swapped out my quarter inch foot for a zipper foot and changed my needle to a heavier 90/14 that was good for heavy denims or other jean type fabrics.

When I change out needles, I keep track with a sticky arrow on my machine face. It was time to switch out the old one for a new one. Maybe I will be neater this go-around as I write in my needle size and dates. This method is effective but not very elegant.

My first step was to install the zipper on the two bottom edges of the tea towels using black thread in the bobbin, and the turquoise bobbin on top for one side and the red spool on top for the other side. A zipper 18" in length is just perfect: its "ears" at the top and bottom ends went right to the edges of the tea towels and did not extend beyond. I overlapped each tea towel over the zipper midline just enough that a stitching line directly on top of the one the towel already had would catch the zipper tape underneath.

Once the bottom was finished I stitched around the other three sides, wrong sides together, placing my stitching line directly over the edge hemming stitch line already there. In this case red thread had been from the spool on top for the face up punching towel and turquoise thread had been in the bobbin on the face down raptor towel. I was careful as I sewed around that the stitching line of both towels aligned and it worked out pretty well. Switching to that heavier needle and proceeding slowly was successful. My trusty Pfaff handled all those thickness without a hitch.

My old hard working Pfaff even handled those many thickness of fabric in the corners like a champ.

Coincidentally, a standard size bed pillow measures 20" x 26". I slipped the joined towels over one to take some photos. I think a newer plumper pillow will fill out the robot towels better so that maybe I do not need an insert with bean bag pellets after all.

In any event, these robots are traveling out to my grandson in Oklahoma folded flat in my suitcase without stuffing or filling of any kind. I will buy a pillow and insert it once there. By the way, I'd like to report that this was a quick and easy project taking me less than fifteen minutes yesterday morning. I spent more time writing this post. But blogging is a fun part of my hobby, too. I also got to share my completion at my quilt guild meeting yesterday afternoon. I really milked those tea towels – that I bought without an end use in mind – for far more than the cash I expended. Linking up now to Cooking Up Quilts Main Crush Monday #156.

UPDATE:

Here is Isaiah with his robot pillow. I am so glad I inserted the pillow first before showing it to him. He slept with it the night we presented it to him.

Two Pleated Dresses

PATTERN: The dress pattern I used is Easy Peazy Pleats- from Olive Ann Designs OAD82. I bought it at the Road to California show I attended in January of 2018 but it is available on Etsy. The very full skirt, smooth without gathers, appealed to me. Once I opened up the pattern, I found that the pleated bodice construction was quite unique to me. Usually the shape of the bodice with its armhole and neck curves is cut out and pleat markings transferred to it before sewing. Instead, with this dress called Easy Peasy Pleats a rectangular piece of fabric is pleated first and then the bodice is cut from that stitched piece of cloth. No pleats are marked; rather a center pleat is made and two end pleats are measured in from the edges. Then pleats halfway between existing pleats are repeatedly made. I was impressed with this novel approach.

My first finished dress was for my 5-year-old granddaughter Vivian. It came out cuter than dirt but I have no in-progress pictures because I struggled so in its construction. The first time those pleats on the front were not uniformly spaced and also ran a bit crooked and non-parallel. I think I was trusting the fabric print to be right on the grain and it was not. I suppose I could have said "good enough" but they would have bothered me. I ripped out those 17 pleats, measured and pressed more carefully, and was able to maintain more parallel, straighter, and overall more uniform pleat widths the second time.

I did not need to rip out the back pleats. The rear view of the pattern shows the length of those pleats was less and therefore not as prone to drift or crookedness. Also I did the back pleats after the front pleats and so was aware of some of the pitfalls. I was not so discouraged, however, that I refrained from forging ahead with a second dress for Vivian's younger 3-year-old sister in a size 3. The details and tips I learned for the construction of that second dress are in this post.

FABRICS: For a size 5 dress 1¾ yards are needed. For a size 3 dress 1⅝ yards are needed. I had neither needed amount in the fabrics I had chosen but I charged ahead anyway.  I often tend to make my craft more difficult than it need be. Either I like a challenge or I am just plain stubborn. Actually, both are true.

For the flower fabric for the size 5 dress I had two 1 yard pieces of Isabella by Valorie Wells for Free Spirit. I had to improvise and figure out my own cutting layout.

For the second dress I had only 1 yard of the needed 1⅝, but I thought the fabric was so appropriate for 3-year-old Lillian that I would find a work around, such as making the facings out of a different fabric. Besides, those sunglasses buttons are so perfect and way too cute to leave languishing in a drawer.

PLEATS: I learned from the first dress that I needed to be exact and strictly parallel with a pleat sized at ¾". I lined each one up precisely on my throat plate. I made sure that the base of the pleat was pinned well to hold the fold and to indicate the stopping point. I did not want to rip out 17 pleats as I had on the first dress. I also started with the back of the second dress where the pleats were shorter and I could gain more skill with the little nuances of handling, folding, pressing, and pinning those pleats. I found that pressing each in its final resting direction as it was completed made the dress much flatter and easier to manipulate. Doing so also prevented my catching one pleat in the seam of an adjacent one as I had inadvertently done on the first dress. (So many klutzy glitches my first time around...)

The back side of the dress back is shown with 9 out of 17 pleats. Photo does not show entire width of back. Fifth from left, marked by a pin is the central pleat.

The dress back gets even more crowded when all 17 pleats are in. Pleats get pressed toward center Press direction for central pleat is optional so it gets covered by a pleat adjacent to it on one side or the other.

The instructions say to run a line of basting stitching 1/2" down from the edge. Once a facing is added this seam allowance will be inside a casing for back elastic. I learned that when threading that elastic through, it glides easily through the first half half where the pleats face toward the center, but gets hung up under the pleats that face the opposite direction as it is guided through the second half. The second time I made this pattern I put in multiple lines of stitching to hold those pleats down and to prevent them from becoming obstacles to getting the elastic through. (Later on I realized these multiple lines were unnecessary and a waste of time and thread.)

Here is the front with all 17 pleats before armhole and neckline curves are cut out. I love the checkered effect made by the fabric when pleated. Fabric choice should be a consideration for this dress. Vertical stripes could make imperfect pleats more visible and furthermore make the stripes appear to "walk across" the bodice in the same way a pattern appears to "walk across" pleated curtains that are not spaced according to the pattern repeat.

BODICE AND FACINGS: I copied the bodice pattern onto tissue paper so I could use it for multiple granddaughters. I guess I am cheap. It goes with the long ē sound of with Easy Peazy Pleats.

The dress pattern called for 1⅝ yards for size 3 but I only had 1 yard – barely enough for size 3 but not for any size larger. I had to make the facings of different fabric. I thought splotchy turquoise dots on bright yellow would be fun on the inside. The fabric selvage reads simple marks by  Malka Dubrawsky for moda. I had never heard of this designer before so I googled her and her name turned up under designers for Kaufman Fabrics. Curious. It appears she loves strong happy colors as I found out from her website http://www.stitchindye.com/. I will watch for her creations in the future. 

This pattern had a unique approach for incorporating armholes, necklines, and back curves into the bodice features. The front and back fabric had been merely rectangles and pleats were formed in them. Afterward, the shaped lining is attached to the pleated components and then the shape is cut out. The next photo shows the bodice pinned it place over the pleated front with a few points of overhang.

The lower edge of the front bodice lining falls right where the pleats end.

Then the instruction said to sew ½" away for the edge of the lining. The first time I made this dress I was puzzled as to how I could sew ½" away if the pleated dress front extended over the marking on the throat plate of my machine. I supposed I could have eyeballed it, but I didn't. Instead, I trimmed away the armhole and neckline curves first so I could sew ½" from the edge of the similarly shaped lining and bodice. That was a mistake. I then had loose partial pleats in the bodice that were not constrained. I got smarter the second time. Instead I marked ½" with a pencil. I still was unwilling to simply eyeball ½".

Then I sewed along these lines and could trim later.

I folded over the pattern piece on the size 3 mark so I could reuse it for an another dress in a different size. Back lining has slight curvature.

I repeated drawing a stitching line.

I stitch along the pencil line for back. I noticed my multiple lines of stitching were kind of a wasted effort since the bulk of them got trimmed away. More about that later.

STRAPS: The central fold of the fabric as it comes off the bolts was not quite centered between the selvages. I had not adjust this before I cut out the front and back – mainly out of laziness – but I was lucky I had not. My lack of micromanagement in the case worked out well. This slight offset actually allowed for a wider strip at one selvage that was exactly the width I needed for the straps.

I cut the straps out along the grain rather than across grain as the pattern instructed. I had no choice in this orientation due to my fabric limitation but it turned out to be better cross grain since the glasses would be upright and not sideways.

I was picky enough and had enough strap length that I could shift the fabric so the sunglass bars on the two straps would align horizontally with each other.

I had initially disliked that the strap was offset and the bridges of sunglasses were not centered on the strap.

I remedied that by not centering the seam on the back when I pressed the strap and before inserting the elastic. In the middle of the next photo a view of one strap from the front shows the bridges of the sunglasses centered. I achieved this by not centering the seam on the back as seen in a back view of the other strap.

INSERTING ELASTIC: Gathering the straps with elastic went easily. With the elastic inserted, the color bands line up pretty closely even when gathered. Both straps have the bridges of the sunglasses centered. The two ends of each gathered strap is then inserted in the front shoulders of the front and into the top edge of the back.

A second place needing elastic is in a casing at the top of the back of the dress. Sounds simple, right? This is where I had the most trouble. The back lining is sewn to the pleated back, folded over and stitched from the edge to form a casing for the elastic. When I had run elastic before everything had been smoothing sailing for the first half when the pleats faced the center and I was heading toward the center; but when I tried to pass it through the second half where the pleats still faced center but in the opposite direction to my elastic progress path –which was away from the center and toward the edge – I kept getting hung up under the edge of those pleats. 

Knowing the grief I had experience on the first dress, I ran a basting stitch along that upper edge to hold the pleats in place before I made that stitching line for the casing. That did not help much at all and I wound up opening the casing in spots to rescue my hung up safety pin. I then had to re-sew it again being very careful – but also somewhat unsuccessful – to not catch the elastic in that re-sewn casing line. It was sort of a comedy of errors and a test of keeping my temper. Now I know the secret is to be sure that the elastic feeds in between the lining and the part of the lining that comprises the seam allowance. There are no pleats in that tunnel region to contend with. I am hoping the third time will be the charm. I have one more granddaughter to sew this dress for. By then I should be a pro. It is lucky it turns out so cute otherwise I might have given up on this pattern.

I wanted Lillian's dress to have the same color hem band as her sister Vivian's, but alas I did not have enough of the same turquoise. I realized I could piece it along its length and have the different color turned to the inside. I had a strip left of the happy yellow facing fabric so I used that. The band is 5" wide so I needed a 10" width. The turquoise strip and the yellow one combined measure 12". If I take up some with the long seam it will work out well.

And here is the back of that band once attached to the hem. That strip of spots peeking out on the inside makes me smile.

Now both dresses have the same fabric at the hemline. The next photo is a bit deceptive. The bottom bands are within a ¼" of each other in width but the sunglasses dress is closer to the camera and its bottom band appears wider.

The finishing decorating touch was to add a few buttons on the front. Here are my button choices. I think they go so well with the fabric with a couple exceptions. I will omit the purple sunglasses since that color is not in the dress fabric.

They are sewn on and, in my opinion, are simply adorable.

The buttons do stand out well from a distance also.

The buttons I selected for the posy dress were perfect also. The flowers were shaped like the flowers in the print. I would use only the pink, turquoise, and yellow posies leaving out the lilac and green buttons. Lilac is not present in the fabric. And the tiny sparkly bling in the center of each flower added the perfect feminine detail.

The green would have been an acceptable color addition but I decided six buttons were enough when I experimented with the spacing. I even played with the order of the buttons. Turquoise, yellow, pink...? Turquoise, pink, yellow...? At least that was the plan until I went to sew them on.

I would have expected that a package hanging in the sewing notions amongst all the other buttons would be for sewing on. Wouldn't you? When I took them out of the package I found out they had no shanks. The fine print that winds around the pictures of the buttons states their many uses. I suppose only the quilting and sewing deployment require that they be sewn on but I was bummed and thought the packaging was very misleading.

I scrambled to find other buttons. I could not have little sister have buttons and big sister no buttons. I bought this package of three princess buttons. The turquoise and yellow went well and the purple princess was admissible because she had pink petticoats. They have a matte finish and are not quite as shiny as the glossy Poppin' Posies, but they do have sparkles so that too is bling of a sort. Plus does not every little girl love princesses?

This button choice blends in with the dress a bit more than I like. Standing out more would have been my preference, but I convinced myself that a princess can act demure, especially when she is dressed in a fancy ball gown, so it was all good.

My last detail was to write the sizes in the back inside of each dress using a pigment marker. I did not have any fancy size labels but they often stick out anyway and can itch.

EASY PEASY: definition per the urban dictionary

Easy Peasy It comes from a 1970's British TV commercial for Lemon Squeezy detergent. They were with a little girl who points out dirty greasy dishes to an adult (mom or relative) and then this adult produces Lemon Squeezy and they clean the dishes quickly. At the end of the commercial the girl says "Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy". Today it is a silly way to state something was or will be very easy.

I can appreciated the allure and enjoy the lilting sound of the catchy pattern name with its pleasing long ē sound throughout. The title flows readily off the tongue: Easy Peazy Pleats. Being more knowledgable now though, I think 34 of anything does not qualify as being "easy peazy". But I feel the results were worth the effort. I like the flaunty fullness of the skirt without the bulk of gathers. I shared the dresses today at my quilt guild meeting and they were favorable received. (Chalk off another one of my 2019 goals  – "Share at least three times at a guild meeting".) The completed dresses are ready to be mailed off. The posies on the left are for 5-year-old Vivian and the sunglasses on the right are for 3-year-old Lillian. Linking up now to Cooking Up Quilts Main Crush Monday #156.

UPDATE:
Here are Lillian (age 3) and Vivian (age 5) wearing their dresses on Graduation Day, June 14.
They fit! Yay!