Make-believe Sheath or Scabbard Tutorial

So Christian has ruined a belt and two ribbons that he has tied around his waist and used as a sheath while playing prince and so I promised to make him a sheath or scabbard.  I think it turned out rather well.  I think the next time I try this I’d like to try real leather though because the nature of his play is a little rough if you know what I mean.  He loves his sheath and it’s the thing he always has on at home if he’s not asleep. :)

   

It wasn’t too difficult though I wish that my eyelet’s worked better…they didn’t set well into the material so they turned out to be just holes but they look pretty cool if you ask me (the holes I mean).  It gives it a rustic look.  I’ll get more heavy-duty eyelets made for belts next time.

Materials Needed:

Sword (for measuring)

1/4 yd faux-leather/decor vinyl or other sturdy material

thread

heavy-duty needles

scrap of contrast material

 

Method:

1. Place sword on material and fold over.  Leave at least 2 inches on each side of the sword.

  

2. Fold bottom portion of scabbard in half and round off with scissors.

3. Measure contrasting material to match width of scabbard and cut to be 3 inches long.

4. Fold bottom edge of contrasting material 1/2 inch.  Press.

5. Pin Contrast over top portion of scabbard.

 

6. Sew in place using a decorative stitch if desired

 

7. Cut remaining material to be 6 inches wide and 5 inches longer than waist intended for (i.e. waist was 20 inches so cut material 25”x6”).

8. Cut a piece that is 6x5 for loop.

9.  Mark belt starting 2” from edge every inch for four inches.

  

10. Sew in female side of snaps at markings.

     

11. Fold Belt in half and then overlap  (as a belt does) and mark where male side of snaps go across from female snaps.  Sew snaps at markings (no photo).

12. Should have all three pieces prepared.  Can embellish by adding eyelets, grommets, or holes. 

  

13. Fold over top edge of scabbard and sew in place (can use a decorative stitch if desired)

14.  With right sides together fold scabbard in half and sew along the side 1/2” away from edge.  

15. Fold belt portion in half right sides together sew 1/2” along edge. Turn over.

16.  Fold in outer edge and hand sew with a heavy duty needle about 1/8” away from edge (this is very thick).

17. Sew top and bottom portion to area of belt desired (depending if you want it to snap in front, the side, and if it’s for left or right handed use).

18. For loop portion, fold in half right sides together so that it measures 6x2 1/2 inches.  Sew 1/2” from edge.

19.  Turn out.  Sew raw edges together 1/4” from seam.

 

20.Turn and slide onto belt.

  

21. Tada!   You’ve got a great accessory for your little prince, knight or solider! 

 

I just love this little guy.  He’s so expressive and isn’t he just totally made for drama?

Felt Roll-Up Kitchen

Around Christmas time I became intrigued with the idea of making felt food so I searched the internet like crazy for ideas (only to find shortly after that my mom was gifting fake food for Christmas).  In my searching I found this blog called Balancing Everything with a darling pattern for a felt roll-up kitchen!

Of course I had to add my own little touches which I did by embroidering the coils on the burners and adding words to the knobs and putting in a drain (what’s a sink without a drain?)

 

Here it is in all it’s embroidered glory!

 

It’s such a great idea and is totally portable so Christian can play with it on practically any flat surface and at the end of the day it rolls up for easy cleaning!

Most importantly, Christian Loves it!  

Noah’s Ark Play Mat

One day in December when I was searching around the internet insanely finding more projects to try.  I found this darling pattern for a Noah’s Ark Play Mat at  www.freepatterns.com to make out of a blanket with some felt pieces and then some felt finger puppets to go along with it.  I of course was a little disappointed that there actually was no Noah included (or his wife either) so I made my own pattern up for both of them and then when I found some awesome striped chenille pipe cleaners I decided to make my own pattern for the tiger as well.  I also took this pattern to the next level by sewing everything rather than gluing it as it says to in the instructions.  It would have taken a lot less time if I had glued. I made two of them, one for my niece who just became a big sister and one for my son who just became a big brother. It is much more durable than it would be if glued and hopefully will provide hours and hours of fun play for both of them and maybe their siblings too.

  

Here’s the ark.  If you look at the pattern, I changed pretty much everything about the color scheme but I like mine better.

 

Here are the finger puppets.  Very colorful I must say.

Here’s everything together.  I really think they turned out cute!

Halloween Costumes Plus

11After some convincing (okay begging) from my son, I broke down and made him a musketeer costume for Halloween.  I also made some extra pieces to go along with the doublet and breeches of his musketeer costume so he could dress the part when he plays prince.  When I finished my son’s costume, my husband thought it would be really cool to have us all go as musketeers since this is the last year there will only be three of us.  I agreed that this would be really fun though I had my reservations at making yet two more costumes.  Well, since my husband was willing to fit the bill, I made two more hats as well as two more tabards.  I didn’t make all of the pieces such as the doublet or the pants but I felt like it still turned out quite cute.

 

Christian the Musketeer… 

 

 

Prince Christian…

 

 

 

The Three Musketeers…

 

I think they turned out well…though I feel like I look like “the brains of the operation” with my big belly.  So, technically, there are 3 2/3 Musketeers in the picture…