Smockity Smock

I love that word--smock. It has a similar word satisfaction level as "spork."

In any case, I had another fit of creativity last week. I don't know what my problem is; I can complain all I like about sewing and sewing projects, but they always end up coming back to haunt me.

In this instance, my motivation was a mixture of realizing that the dry erase markers Cambrie got from Santa were not washable and a feeling of desperate boredom on my part. Normally when I'm feeling antsy and desperate to do something productive and fun, I'll cook or bake something. However, this took place in the days after Christmas, when there were still cookies, candy, chocolate dessert, and portions of two pies leftover in our house. Yeah, I wasn't going to add to that pile of delicious-but-awful-food-to-eat.

So I went to search the internet for DIY kid's art smocks. Here was the chosen goal:

Original source here.

Now we get into my slacker method of sewing. The first thing I said when I looked at this was, "No way I am doing ruffles." Oh, I'm sure they would have been cute, but I was not even about to go to that much trouble to keep my kid's clothing marker-free.

The second thing I thought was, "How can I do this without buying anything?" Well, when you live in the same house as someone who has been sewing for years (Patrick's grandma), that part's not too hard. I had to patch a piece of fabric to make it long enough, and I ix-nayed the bias tape around the edges, but that's all I really had to sacrifice.

Disclaimer--my poor point-and-shoot didn't always get the colors right. They look the most accurate where Cambrie is modelling the smock.

Cutting the circle for her neck.

Doesn't that back look so fancily sewn! [Experienced sewers may snicker all they like.]

This was the trickiest part (for beginner-sewer-me). Remember, I had no bias tape, so I had to make my own here. I like how it matches the pockets, but boy it was a pain.

Front, almost finished. The only think missing is the velcro clasp in the back.

In action.

You can see the velcro part a little here.

All ready for art projects galore!

This, luckily, only took about two sessions over two afternoons. I didn't even get super annoyed at the whole sewing process, this time! Of course, there are some things I do to help that, like ignoring the stupid bobbin until I absolutely have to pay attention to it (which means my thread colors don't always match) and not going back to fix things that could be better as long as they look okay at a distance. I know. I thought I was a perfectionist, too, but I guess I'm cutting myself some slack in this area.

And Cambrie likes her little smock! I like that it will grow with her for a few years, and then I can make her a new one out of better smock material, like tablecloth, or something else wipe-able. Until then, she can marker away! One more legit sewing project under my belt--I'll slowly get the hang of this creative mommy thing...