Princess Mulan's Matchmaker Hanfu

Made It!!!

The girls have been wishing for Princess Mulan dresses for quite some time. I finally found time to get to the fabric store and while I was there, I actually remembered to grab up some pretty blue fabric for the waist band. Really, that's what the big wait was all about. I've had the pink satin and the red trim for quite some time.

I only made one dress because my older girl is growing out of the dress up stage and she would rather wear something normal but themed. I haven't figured out what to do for her yet, but I did buy some Star Wars fabric for when I figure something out. In the meantime, only one hanfu is in order. Which works because Libby's 5th birthday was quickly approaching so the dress could be a gift. 

It only took me a couple of days to make the dress, which would equate to a couple of hours in normal person time. It's been proven many times that I am not functioning in any level of normal, sewing or otherwise. But it should be noted that it was a quick project.

I used a normal looking dress pattern, mainly for the measurements of the shoulders and sleeves and bodice width. The hanfu does not at all resemble the pattern I used, but I am growing out of a need for much of a pattern; I just need the major cutting points and then I can wing the rest of it.

I made the hanfu just like a dress in that it has a top bodice section and a bottom skirt with a zipper up the back. I'm not so sure that is the proper way but I wanted it to have some flair at the bottom and I wasn't so sure a shift or A line cut would have the same effect. Besides, the gathered waistline would be covered by the waist band so it didn't really matter. I also made the skirt ankle length (or so I thought until my kid put it on and I discovered her legs are a lot longer than they used to be!)

I cut the sleeves the right length and then added "bat wings" to the wrist. I also made the tip of the wings longer than the top of the wrist so that it resembled Mulan's long sleeve tips without going overboard. Just a bit of effect for authenticity but not enough that it would be annoying to wear.

The bodice top gave me some pause. I had to think about how to make it overlap like a robe. I ended up cutting four bodice pieces and then folding them and ironing them down the way I wanted them, trimming off the unwanted half at the diagonal and stitching the two pieces of bodice together at the waist. It has a lining of the same satin, which is why I needed four pieces. Two outer and two for lining. There is probably a hundred easier and more conservative ways to cut the bodice out, but to keep it straight in my mind, that's how I did it. I will have to practice or draw up a little pattern piece.

I used some of the leftover cheap red stuff that I used for the Captain Hook Halloween costume last year to trim the bodice and make the red waist belt. The embroidered blue piece was easy to make into a waistband. I measure the child around the middle and made a rectangle to match. I sewed the red band to the middle of the blue rectangle and added apron ties.

Now I had the pink satin underdress with the red trim on the bodice and the separate blue and red waist band. Done!

There were just a couple of problems. I forgot the red upper skirt and the waist band slid straight down that satin covered kid. It wouldn't stay up.

I added a piece of gathered red to the bottom of the blue waist band and that fixed that issue. Then I tacked the waist band to the dress in the back, front and under the arms to keep it from sliding down. We don't need to spend all day yanking the waist piece up over and over again. Now, it's done!

Princess Mulan's pink hanfu was an awesome birthday gift for my little birthday girl! We hauled it around all day at Disneyland on her big day, but it was too hot to wear satin. Also, Mulan wasn't "home" when we went to the Princess Fantasy Faire. In the evening when it cooled down, she put her hanfu on over her clothes in lieu of a jacket.  It was so cute!  We sure heard a lot of compliments in the couple of hours that she wore it and her little friend instructed me to make one for her and her sister.

Happy Birthday to my little princess!

*** UPDATE ***
11/8/2013

My little Mulan met the real Mulan at Disneyland. Mulan saw her and gasped with excitement! She was like a little princess on Christmas morning when she saw Libby in her Mulan hanfu! Very exciting! Here are the princess twins together:

Super Baby Capes

We were invited to a birthday party for Ian and Alina, cute twin babies turning one year old.  I am currently challenged as far as shopping goes (I haven't figured out how to hop a mile through the aisles of Target on crutches). So, I turned to my trusty sewing machine and my pile of fabric and hoped something quick, easy and thoughtful would happen.

It did.

I remembered that a few months ago, the mommy of these adorable twins sent me a photo of a kid wearing a superhero cape and she mentioned that it was cute and something I could sew. I really didn't give it much thought at the time. But, now the idea resurfaced.

I just pretended that I knew what I was doing. It's amazing how often that works. I used my scissors and just cut out a large bib shape of red velveteen type stuff (leftover from the Captain Hook Halloween costume) and the same shape from some glitter infused red poly-satin. Then I cut out an I and an A from a scrap of blue. Also, cut out two white circles. Using fusing to stiffen the circles and initials, I appliqued them to the outer part of the cape.

Then, I sewed the liner and outer cape together, flipped them inside out and topstitched. After that, I searched frantically for velcro.

No luck. No velcro!

Snap tape to the rescue!  It isn't ideal for this project, but with the birthday party only minutes away, it would have to do.

There you have it.  Happy Birthday, Superbabies!  Faster than a loaded diaper, it's Super Alina and Super Ian to the rescue!

Another Fun Crazy Week!

Why do I call myself a Stay-At-Home-Mom? I've done everything except stay home lately!

I need to blog about each of these adventure filled days individually, but with one adventure on top of the next (and laptops that are falling apart) it's hard to get much blogging done. Trust me when I say: any free time is devoted to groaning about my aches from the day, sleeping, or wishing I was alseep. 

Monday, I took the kids to Disneyland. Our first trip for February and our 4th trip in 2013. I lost track of how many times I've taken the kids since we started going, but according to Gracie we've been there "a thousand times!". Actually, I think it's more like 30 to 35 or so.  Each and every time is exciting and fun. Monday was extra fun because we were able to see the  Chinese New Year celebration and the Mardi Gras celebration. Both of these are special events and I'm surprised that we got to see both. We also randomly ran into a friend and her little girl while we were there so we had fun sticking together for the rest of the day. It was a great day!

Tuesday, we went to San Diego to celebrate Katie's 24th birthday a day early with her. We went to her house and the kids played with Henry while Katie rested on the couch and I cleaned up her kitchen. I brought her a sack of groceries, a cheesecake, and a bouquet of flowers. She was pretty happy! After the dishes were done (Lordy, that girl had a ton of dirty dishes!) we went to Balboa Park for a nice walk and we toured the Model Railroad Museum. Did I take my camera? No. Whoops! After tearing the kids away from the train museum, we went out to eat Mexican. It was delicious! Katie got a special birthday treat for desert. The kids were really excited to help her eat it.

Wednesday was the science fair. Gracie worked hard on her project and I was wondering if I over-helped, but once we got to the science fair I could see that I easily stepped back enough. In fact, one science experiment was totally a mom-done job. The mom stood by her science project beaming like one of the kids. I have no idea where her kid was, but this mom was pretty happy with herself. She did a fingernail polish "experiment". Whatever, it was straight off of pinterest. Gracie actually did her own science experiment!  She learned a lot too. Gracie put white carnations in colored water and watched the color go up into the pedals. She made a diagram of a flower and labeled all the parts and read all about how plants and flowers absorb water and nutrients. We turned this into a real learning opportunity and she loved it. Hands-on learning is her favorite way to study.

Wednesday was also Katie's real birthday. We didn't celebrate it though because we did on Tuesday. We just thought of her and hoped she was having a great day.

It was also Dress like a princess day in Libby's Ballet class. Libby chose to dress like Jasmine, which is a costume she never chooses to wear so it surprised me but it was great for class. The only problem was that I forced her to wear a shirt under it. Gosh, I'm such a mean mom!

Thursday was Valentines' Day and run a bunch of errands day. Gracie and Libby had their valentine cards all ready to pass to friends.  Gracie took hers to school for their afternoon "Friendship party". For a no-sugar school, she sure came home with a lot of candy! Libby delivered a few valentines to her friends and was satisfied with that.  We went to the post office, Redbox, bank, Walmart, Vet, and delivered valentines. It was a crazy day of errands but we got a lot done! Since Daddy was teaching in the evening, the girls and I had a movie night. We watched Hotel Transylvania. It was a cute movie. It had a love storyline in it, so it was sort of Valentiney, but mostly Halloweeny.

Friday,  Libby went to spend the day with friends while I took Gracie to Disneyland. Just a Gracie and Mom day! I thought it was much needed, but starting the day off tired from the crazy busy fun week called for some extra coffee. Libby ended up staying at the sitter for 12 hours! Whoops! Gracie and I just had too much fun I guess. But, I had to run errands before we left again. We went to the post office, Walmart (serioulsy, I just did this yesterday too), Sams Club for gas, and returned a movie in the Redbox.

Saturday was clean the garage day. I cleaned out all of my stuff that was everywhere and in my husband's way. Took me about 5 minutes to move the three or four items that weren't his. The garage is still a complete mess.

My Favorite Things

Oprah has her favorite things, well, so do I.  And after my last blog post about things I don't have but I wish I had, I need to balance things out by showing some appreciation for the many wonderful things I already have. I am pretty spoiled.

The tippy top of my favorite things list is, of course, my family. That goes without saying; they are just the best!  But, they are not "things" so they don't really make the list. They're over and above it.

1. Rug Doctor.  This thing is my best friend in messy times! And with a houseful of kids and a dog, there are plenty of messy times.

2. Electric pan. It's amazing. How did I live without this thing for so long?

3. My remote control van doors. Presently, one doesn't work which makes me appreciate them even more.

4. Coffee.  No explanation needed.

5. My Nike cushiony flip flops. I wear them every single day.

6. My laptop. It's my connection to the world and to myself. I'd probably go insane if I didn't have an outlet.

7. My sewing machines. I love them!

8. Dawn dishwashing liquid. Yeah, I'm really saying that.

9. My washer and dryer. They make my life easier.

10.  The portable dvd player.  Long road trips would suck without this thing.
 

11. My books. I have gads of books, most of them I haven't read yet. But, I love them. I always want more books and I instantly love any book that comes into my possession. I hate getting rid of them, but I don't mind sharing.  I wish I had more time for reading, but I need big fat chunks of uninterrupted time so that I can just keep turning pages and that kind of time is hard to come by right now.

12. My china. I haven't even seen it in years, but I love it. It is all packed away snug and tight and safe under my stairs right now. It's beautiful. The china is a huge set of dishes that were a wedding gift to my Great Grandmother circa 1900. My grandma handed it all down to me.

13. My Fun Passes.  I love going out and about and having fun! I have passes to the SD Zoo and Safari Park, Science Center in Balboa Park, Sea World and Universal Studios. I no longer have a pass to Disneyland; I miss it very much but we had passes for three years and it was fantastic! I love having tickets to fun!

Happy Birthday and Happy Mothers' Day

Happy Birthday to my grandma! A few days ago she turned 104 years old. She's amazing. She still lives independently on her ranch in Wyoming. She has a good life and I hope to be as healthy as she is when I'm 50.

104 years old is hard to comprehend.  When my Grandma was born (in the same little town where she lives now), Teddy Roosevelt was President and the Ford Model T went on the market.

She shares a birth-year with Jimmy Stewart, Buddy Ebsen, Ian Fleming, Milton Berle, Max Grundig, Helene Boucher and a long list of other long gone famous favorites.

When my grandma was just 4 years old, the Titanic sank. Mother's Day was declared a national holiday, and the Girl Scouts was founded.

She was 12 years old when the 19th amendment passed and women were granted the right to vote. When she was 19 the first talking movie, The Jazz Singer, came out. A year later, Mickey Mouse's first movie "Steamboat Willie" was released.

1930 was the year she got married to my grandpa. Great guy and a lucky man. The rest is history as they say.

Happy Birthday to you, Grandma!

Happy Mothers' Day too!  I am always so busy being a mom that I am not a very good daughter. I have Mother's Day cards sitting here but I didn't get them to the post office. I doubt they will arrive by yesterday if I haven't mailed them yet! My appreciation for my mom and my grandma is not lessened by my lack of postal skills.

My mom is amazing. I remember as a kid that she worked, and she worked a lot, but she was always home with us. Not sure how she managed that, but it is every mama's dream to balance it all and I feel like my mom did but I cannot for the life of me figure out how. After years and years of waiting tables she became a librarian. Now, she's a retired social butterfly.

We were always busy. My mom had more stuff for us to do than any teacher I ever had in school. We had projects and activities all the time. Mom had a special tablecloth; it was a plastic picnic cloth with Raggedy Ann and Andy printed on it. It was also covered in paint, glitter, glue, and all sorts of stains from our fun. You just knew it was going to be a good day when Mom got out the Raggedy Ann tablecloth!

My mom and my grandma are both widows now and they pal around together. They are always busy going places, meeting with friends, visiting, celebrating one thing after another, and planning more fun. We're all pretty excited to go visit again this summer. We'll celebrate birthdays, Mother's Day, and Christmas all at once on a non-holiday. Every day is a good one with my mom and grandma!

Happy 5th Birthday!

 My cute chubby little baby suddenly turned 5 years old! Not sure how that happened so darn fast.  She was just a ball of baby blubber not very long ago.  Now she's a dancing, prancing, singing 5 year old. Amazing how time flies when you are having fun!

She really is fun. Always has been and I think she always will be. We sure have a good time together. Gracie loves to go places and we do a lot of that!

We didn't do much to celebrate her birthday, but that is exactly what she wanted. She wanted her sisters, Charlie and a cake. That's it.  So, that's just what she got. We got her some gifts, but nothing extravagant or expensive.

She did say she wanted to go to Disneyland on her birthday.  If that's what the kid wants, that's easy enough!  No party, no extra fuss, just a fun day with mom and little sis. Awesome! I quickly finished sewing the Jessie costumes, hand sewing all of the sequin work. We planned to go and I took the day off from babysitting Charlie so that we could go on her birthday, but....

The first rule of going to Disneyland is that Mommy must get enough sleep to function. That didn't happen so we didn't go.  Everyone took a long afternoon nap the day before, which messed up the whole night, which messed up the trip to Disneyland.  And then of course, everyone was too tired to even make it through the day so we all napped again! Ugh, the domino effect on the sleep schedule wreaks havoc on our entire week!

On her birthday, we all laid around the living room and played with her new toys, colored in her new coloring book, and watched her new movie.  We finished off the cake and put a dent in the pie.  It was a nice lazy day with everyone home. Gracie loved her lazy day birthday!  She said it was the best birthday ever!

I guess we'll go to Disneyland next week. She can still get her birthday button and have a fun day.