{Tracheostomy Treasure}

I can hardly believe that 3 years ago today my little boy started breathing without the assistance of a hole in his neck. 

 It was a big step that hardly seemed to phase him and today he knows why he has the scar on his neck but doesn't really remember having the trach.  He has been very interested in what he did as a baby though so we have been talking about how he was born and he was very sick and he stayed in the hospital for a long time. 

 

For many parents a trach is something that is feared, a last resort.  To me the trach was a life saver because without Milo would not have survived.  I welcomed it into our lives (I pushed the doctors to do it sooner rather than later) and was a bit apprehensive when it went away.  Life has been a little simpler for the last 3 years but I cherish this piece life saving medical technology.  I wanted to find a way to "honor" Milo's trach.  On the day his trach was removed one of the respiratory therapists at the hospital said I should bronze one of his trachs and honestly I looked into that but at $120 is was a bit cost prohibitive.  For a long time I pondered how to creativly and stylishly display a trach. 

***For those who are not familiar with trached kids I thought I should explain how I ended up with multiple trachs to use.  Tracheostomy tubes (trachs) are removed and replaced (very quickly) every week or two.  The old trach can be cleaned and sterilized.  We reuse the sterilized trachs a couple of times then I saved some for crafting later.***

Christmas 2009 I turned one of his old trachs into a Christmas ornament for a favorite nurse who was moving away.  While it turned out cute I wanted something I could display year round.  About a year and a half ago I finally came up a great idea.  I incorporated an old trach and a trach chain (that was never successful in keeping Milo's trach in) along with some charms, beads, and personalized charms.  I ended up with two different treasures. 

Milo Trach Treasure:

I selected silver square alphabet beads, a blue ball chain (like dog tags use) and colored metallic beads.  I found all of these at Hobby Lobby.

I cut the chain to an 8 inch length and layed out the design I wanted to use.  I then slid the beads onto the chain and threaded the chain through the flanges of the trach(where the trach ties go). 

The tricky part is balancing the weight of the beads to keep the trach from tipping forward. I tried gluing the chain to the cannula but hot glue wouldn't stick to the trach.  I ended up using a piece of  thread to tie the chain to the cannula.  If you look close you can see the knot beside the clasp. 

The finished product hanging on an ornament stand.

Placed on a bookshelf with the photo albums for all to see.

Believe Trach Treasure

I wanted this one to be a little more elaborate.  I used the trach chain that we tried to use with Milo's trach but it just couldn't keep the trach in my active boy.  The balls on this chain are bigger than the store bought one I used for the other treasure so I had a harder time finding beads but I ended up discovering the blue beads at Hobby Lobby, since then I have seen this style of bead at many different stores.  I also wanted to incorporate the date that he got the trach and the date his trach was removed.  I found an Etsy store that would custom make these rectangular pendants for a reasonable price.  I also got a round pendant with Milo's name from a different Etsy store.  I found a package of charms with a little boy and the word "Believe" that I knew I had to incorporate.

I decided to use the chain in the same length my son wore it and it turned out perfectly.  I chose a layout for all the beads and charms then threaded the chain through the trach's flanges.  To balance this one I found that if I placed one of the balls from the chain in the end of the cannula things balanced out just right.  You might have to play around with the chain to find the right balance based on what chain, beads, charms, etc you use. 

 

To hang put sewing thread or fishing line through the flanges and tie together.

The finished product:

This treasure is hanging in my bedroom. 

I had a set of cubes on the wall just waiting for something to fill them.  I attached a little clear Command to the inside top of the cube to suspend the trach in it's own little cubby.

I just love how both of these turned out.  Crafting with unusual items is always a challenge but the result can be extraordinary.  What unusual items have you turned into treasures?

{KCWC Day 7 ~~ Jean Shorts}

Today's project was pretty simple, a great way to finish off the week.  I went though my son's shorts and realized he didn't have any jean shorts for the summer.  The thought of buying a couple of pairs ran across my mind but then I remembered a couple of pair of too short jeans with holes starting in the knees.  Perfect!

I started with two pair of jeans, thread that matched the topstitching on each pair & fabric for a hem facing.

Of course both pair of jeans are the carpenter style with the pocket on the side.  The position of the pocket and the knee holes pretty much determined how long the shorts would turn out.  The pair on the right became the more traditional frayed cut-off shorts because there wasn't much room between the bottom of the pocket and the hole.  After cutting one leg I folded the jeans in half and cut the other leg to match.  I sewed a line of stitching about 1/4 inch from the bottom and helped them to fray a bit.

For the other pair I went with a more finished look.  There was more room between the bottom of the pocket and the knee hole so I more length to work with.  I used a hem facing to add a bit of interest.  It also requires a smaller hem on the jean shorts.

I think they turned out great and I'm sure they will get tons of use this summer.  The best part is that I saved myself some $$!

{KCWC day 6 ~~Pajamas}

Today's inspiration came from a crossover tee that I had cut out last fall but never finished.  It came together very well and I decided to make a pair of pants to complete the outfit so I made the sleeping johns. I still had some of the blue knit left over so I made another pair of jammies.  This time I used the flashback skinny tee with short sleeves and I shortened the sleeping johns into shorts.  Now my son has 2 pair of mix & match pajamas.  Living in Colorado means some nights can get cool in the spring and fall so a good mix of long and short work well.

Pattern:  Top--Crossover Tee by Growing Up Sew Liberated

             Pants--Sleeping Johns by Growing Up Sew Liberated

Fabric:  Blue interlock & Chocolate brown 1x1 ribbing both from Jo-Ann's

Construction:  These both came together very quickly and I love the results.  The instructions and illustrations in the book are great.  I will definately be making more of these :0)

Pattern:  Top--Flashback Skinny Tee from made-by-rae.com

           Shorts--Sleeping Johns from Growing Up Sew Liberated

Fabric:  Blue interlock & Chocolate brown 1x1 ribbing both from Jo-Ann's

Construction:  Rae's skinny tee went together like a dream, love this pattern and all it's options.  The shorts were quite easy, I just cut off the legs of the sleeping johns pattern and added a bit of ribbing.  My son will be extra comfy in these this summer.

{Treasure Pocket Shorts}

While making a pair of treasure pocket pants I thought they would make great shorts for the summer too.  Since it's Kids Clothes Week Challange I figured now was as good a time as any to try it out.  I used fabrics I already had and the pair of dinosaur shorts turned out wonderful.

Fabric:  medium weight denim with embroidered dinosaurs from Jo-Ann

medium weight olive green denim from Jo-Ann

Dinosaur print remnant that I think was from Wal*Mart

Pattern:  Treasure Pocket Pants from the Sewing For Boys book

Adaptation:  All I really had to do was cut about 6 inches off of the bottom of the legs.  Since the pant legs are pretty straight, the hem facing piece was even the correct size so no changes had to be made to it.  I didn't have much of the print fabric so I only used it on the upper side panel and the hem facings.

  Unfortunately I didn't position my pattern pieces quite right and one of the dinosaurs was decapitated when the waistband went on, oops!

{KCWC~~half way through}

This week is Kids Clothes Week Challenge over at elsiemarley.com where hundreds of people join in pledging to sew kids clothes/accessories for at least 1 hour a day for 7 days.  I haven't finished as many projects as I had hoped but really my guy doesn't need many new summer clothes.  So far I have made a pair of red, white & blue plaid shorts and embellished a plain grey hoodie.

Patriotic Shorts:

Fabric:  red, white & blue plaid Madras style from Jo-Ann's

and powder blue knit for lining and pocket lining

Pattern:  Basic Kid Pants from MADE also used shorts, pocket & lining option

There's a Dino in my Pocket Jacket:

 

Supplies:  Light grey hoodie from Target clearance 

green interlock knit from Jo-Ann's, Heat 'n Bond Lite

blue embroidery thread & a dab of fabric paint

Technique:  I laid paper over the front of the jacket and drew the dinosaur head coming out of one pocket and the tail out of the other.  When I was satisfied with the dinosaur I cut out the pattern and traced it onto the Heat 'n Bond in mirror image.  I ironed the knit to the Heat 'n Bond and cut out the pieces.  I arranged them onto the jacket and ironed them down.  The knit won't fray but to add a little more color I stitched around the edge with blue embroidery thread and gave him a little mouth.  The eye I dabbed on with a bit of fabric paint.

Up Next:  I'm in the process of making Treasure Pocket Shorts from the pants pattern in the Sewing For Boys book.

{treasure pocket pants}

April's Sewing For Boys Sew-along pattern is the Treasure Pocket Pants.  I was so excited that this was the next pattern because as I was making the shirt last month I knew a pair of matching pants would be fun.  The pattern calls for 2 different fabrics but I ended up using 3 fabrics to match with the shirt. 

The waist band and the sides of the legs are the puppy paw print that I used on the collar and hem facings on the easy linen shirt from last month.  Above the pocket I used the main white/black fabric from the shirt.  The main part of the pants is a baby wail corduroy.  It seemed to me the weight difference between the cotton fabric and corduroy would be bothersome to my son so I lined the side panels with corduroy as well. 

As I was attempting to assemble the side panels I realized that the pattern pieces did not match up.  A quick internet search revealed the solution, the top pocket pattern piece (white and black stripey print on the pants) was printed incorrectly and the correction can be found here.  I didn't have enough fabric to re-cut the piece so I trimmed down the other part and luckily they fit my skinny kiddo perfectly. 

Dog applique on the front

Paw print applique on the bum

To embellish these pants I added an applique of a dog on the front of the leg and puppy print on the bum.  The dog is the same as the button on the shirt and paw print is the same as on the fabric.  I used a white micro-fleece for the applique so I didn't have to worry about the fabric fraying.

The whole outfit turned out as cute as can be and Milo has already worn it several times.

Since it's also Kids Clothes Week over at Elsie Marley I think a pair of treasure pocket shorts might be a good project this week.



{easy linen shirt}

March's Sewing For Boys Sew-along pattern was the easy linen shirt. 

I debated about what fabric I wanted to use for this shirt.  I've never sewn with linen before and thought it would be a great opportunity to do so.  Problem is I couldn't find any boyish linen locally, I did find some online but it was pricey and I wasn't sure Milo would get a lot of use out of this shirt.  I wandered into JoAnn's and decided to just take a look and see what I could find that wasn't too expensive and I found the perfect fabric.  This quilting cotton in black and white print worked perfectly for the shirt and the coordinating fabric, dog paw prints, was great.  Best part was that this fabric was on sale for $2.50 a yard, woo hoo.  I wasn't too sure about embellishing this shirt so while doing a bit more wandering I found a cute little black & white puppy button that I knew was destined to make it's way onto the shirt.   



Sleeve hem facing turned up, side vents & top stitching.



This shirt came together very easily, I had it totally done in a couple of hours from cutting it to completely finished.  I did modify the shirt a bit and I am pleased with the outcome.  To start with I knew I needed to add a couple of inches to the length.  Since I added about 2 inches to it I figured side vents would be helpful with getting it on and off.  I also added hem facings to the sleeves and bottom and finished them off with a couple of rows of top stitching for a bit of detail.  The sleeve facings ended up being perfect since sleeves were a bit long, just turning them up to expose the facing worked great and looks super cute too.   

The collar I did backward from the instructions putting the contrasting/coordinating fabric on the outside. The puppy was placed on top a small patch of the contrasting fabric.  The patch has unfinished edges so it will fray when washed.  I used french seams so there are no raw edges.  I love all the little details of this shirt!

Milo's GQ pose!

Best of all Milo loves his "fire puppy" (what he calls dalmatians) shirt and has already worn it several times. This shirt does show-off his neck/chest scars, good thing he's not self-concious about them.  I'm now thinking about that retro robot linen I found...just might have to take the plunge!