Thursday, September 22, 2011

Yo Gabba Gabba

Is it just me, or can you only buy Yo Gabba clothes in England?

So for reasons like:
 I won't be in England anytime soon...
 and those Gabba faces aren't too strewn with intricate features

Why can't we make our own Gabba inspired attire?!?

We can!

And we did...  in honor or Eleanor's 2nd birthday.

And we did it with:

Cotton fabric
Heatbond
Sewing machine
iron, ironing board
Coffee
Apple muffins


The gabba faces...  they're just shapes.  And not even complicated shapes.  No trapezoid's...  just your basic circles and triangles..  mostly circles...

To make a long story short... because this is not sewing .0167854 blog.  And I am not a black belt (yet) in sewing..  I will just highlight a few tips, and if you have further questions, please comment.

Anytime you are going to apply a decoration (applique) or a face in this case, Iron on some heatbond first to make sure the edges stay nice and it's a bit sturdier.
I did this with the pink face.  You could've also done it with the eyes and mouth but I figured it'd be ok without.  And it was, it went through the wash and came out in one piece.  Though the party stains remain...

Even before the heatbond though...  the fabric! It is so damn hard to find cool fabric around here!
The middle (base) fabric for this dress was from the collection my grandmother gave me.  The patterned pieces I bought from Etsy.  And they are gorgeous! Very vintagy... girly... yummy! So if you just accent something plain with some really cool scraps, you can still make it look expensive!  I thought using the vintage fabric for Foofa's flower made a huge difference than if I would've just left it pink.  I think it took it from "cheesy character" dress to "Shabamalama adorable" dress.  But that's just me. And at the same time, still
reminds you of the clothes you'd find the kids wearing on the show.

The belt:      Easiest way I know how to make a quick belt is the good ol' fold in half twice and top stitch method. Cut your length and then a 2-3 inch width.  Fold in half length-wise, then fold the sides in to meet the inside fold.  (ironing all the way) Then fold in half once more, iron, and top stitch all the way around.  You can either tuck the ends under or cut an angle and sew closed. 
well, some noodles are calling me... so I will hopefully return in a timely fashion... or a gabba fashion... probably neither... hopefully both.