Football Jersey to Toddler Dress

 

It's no secret that our house is a Colts house! With the mass exit of players this year, I'm stuck with 4 jerseys of players that don't exist on our team anymore. I only wear active player jerseys, so I had to do something with them.... and I decided to make Miss K a dress from one.

 

I did not take pictures of making it, but it is pretty basic. I did it with no pattern and in less than 3 hours.

 

You'll see in the picture below that the back is inside-out. This was by design. I got it by ripping the side seams and cutting the front, and cutting the back with the number side up. (I was originally thinking I would put WEST on the back, but decided I liked it as it is.)  

 

Step One: Choose your design.

My original sketch was a one shoulder dress with a ribbon on the opposite side, and a puff sleeve. (Hey, I'm no designer, just going with the little knowledge I have.)

 

Step Two: Gather your materials.

Jersey, Scissors, Ribbon, Thread, Marker, Sewing Machine

 

Step Three: Cut your material.

I eyeballed the measurements because it was pretty easy to guess the size on a dress like this for Katelyn, but you can always take a dress you do like and trace it on the fabric and cut it from there.

 

Step Four: Add Hem.

Fold over the bottom and stitch in a hem on both pieces. Add hem around the sholder piece (if you did one,) and the neck line.

 

Step Five: Make two become one.

Put the pieces together (wrong-to-wrong) and sew the top of the shoulder together. Then sew the sides together. (Be sure to leave a large enough arm hole.)

 

Step Six: Add your ties.

Cut 4 pieces of ribbon and sew into place.

 

Step Seven: Outside Trim.

Turn the dress right-side out. Smile at your handy work, and if you want to add the ribbon trim down the sides like I did, carefully stitch it down the left and right sides of the ribbon. .

 

It's that simple. You can make any shirt a No-SEW dress as well by using Steam-A-Hem, but it won't work so well for the jersey because the iron can't get hot enough on the material to melt the glue. (Trust me, I tried. it will melt the material quickly if you turn it up past nylon/low - and I sat it on the shirt for 20 minutes and it never melted the glue [or the fabric] lol.)

 

I guess I hope that makes sense! It's super simple, next to no skill required.

 

 

Picture Post!

Getting Ready to leave for Victoria's first NFL game!!

K assisting Daddy with lawn duty...



She's no fool. She knows the fun is all in the driving.

I love these two! I also love that Chris gets up with her in the middle of the night, so I can sleep.

Kissing daddy before he heads out the door for work!

Yum, Miss K loves her spaghetti!

We went to Garwood's Apple Orchard, and K picked her very first apple from the tree.

Victoria picked some too!
Chris made the most amazing Apple Pie ever with our apples.

Movie Bonus

our little climber..

There is nothing...

That this girl will not climb on! Yesterday I caught her climbing on her little play jungle toy (which is narrow and snake like,) SO, she climbed on it, and was stretched out with her hands on the jumper making herself be a bridge across the two. She is a monkey for sure.

Movie Monday

I loaded this on YouTube site earlier (I see Amanda has already watched it! lol THANKS!) The site asked if I wanted them to make it lighter because it looked dark, but I think they made it worse. ANYWAY... here she goes... enjoy.

Metting Miss Ava

Baby Ava has arrived to the Buckley Family! And we were honored to spend such great time with them! They have to be two of the stongest, God-filled people we know...Truly inspiring. We love them. =D

Haha, she is thinking "Wow, a real life baby doll that is just my size! I've never been the bigger one!"

I was never a freak-out mom about people touching K, so it took me a minute to remember that they may not want Katelyn's hands all over the new precious baby! Katelyn is fast and strong.

Katelyn wondering why she can't touch the baby.

Victoria with 3 week old Baby Ava.

Katelyn Peeking into Ava's gift bag.

(I hate to tell her, but those adorable HONEST diapers, are not hers!)

Unschooling...

{ Let me start by saying that I am in no way well-versed in the art of unschooling, so my "out-loud" and public thoughts should be considered as nothing more than thoughts from an uneducated mind in the matter.=) }




 

What is "Unschooling"?  

First I found this definition: “Unschooling is a unique opportunity for each family to do whatever makes sense for the growth and development of their children...Natural Child.”

 That was not a very clear defintion to me, so I kept searching and found this one:  

“Unschooling is a type of homeschooling that promotes organic, self-directed learning without the structure of traditional education...”Lee Stranhan


Are you asking, “Is she seriously thinking about school for Katelyn already?” Eh, Yes and No. It is on my mind, but this particular post was not driven by schooling options for her. A local mom has been recruiting parents to Unschool their children like she does. Yesterday, she made a post that really got me interested in taking a closer look, because I was just so dumbfounded by what she said…  

Here is her post:  

“For those curious about how unschooling works: [Name], our 10 yo has suddenly in the last week or so clicked with numbers. He is counting everything, dots on boxes, lines on the digital clock. He asked me to print him some math worksheets. He's been whipping through them. All of a sudden, it's important to him. We are getting out of his way and letting him go.”

 I'm sure this can be open to our own interpretations, and at first I thought there is no way that this 10 year old is just learning to count...but then.... to show off how proud she is of her son and her unschooling method, she posted a picture of him working on a worksheet, in which you can clearly see that this 10 year old boy is just learning single/double digit addition. I called my sister and asked her what type of math her 10 year old is working on just for comparison....Multiplication. (He loves Math too!)  

Now, I attended public school, private school, and was homeschooled. I guess in a sense I was "unschooled" during some of that time since my mother was a full-time teacher at a public school, but not to the extent that I wasn't expected to study anything unless I wanted to. I love English... so I worked my way through the English program without paying much attention to other subjects, but once my English was completed, I was expected and encouraged to also study the other subjects such as Science, Algebra, and History. (I also wrote A LOT of essays about N'SYNC because I was in love with them...and I'm glad my mom forced me to write about other topics, because you can see how useful my knowledge of Justin Timberlake’s favorite things is.)
 

I guess I don't understand how a parent does not have that instinctual drive to at least prepare their child with basic knowledge before saying, "learn what you want when you want." I can see the benefits of it after the child has basic skills, but letting them decide when to learn those basic skills sort of seems like neglect to me. However,  I wouldn't mind doing a combination of Homeschool/Unschooling with Katelyn when she is older and if that is a benefitting learning style for her in the future.  

I think a passion for learning most be instilled in children at a young age, (Not to say traditional school children get this, because no one gets it if the parents don't give it,) but in the case of the mom above... 10 is a little old to just be learning to count (assuming he is mentally capable, which she does not mention). I'm glad that he is excited, and interested enough to ask to learn about it, but counting....at 10....really??  

I whole-heartedly agree with what Lee Stranhan describes in his article about Long Division "not being so tricky when it is not being force fed to children". With the right application and support, and when used with the right child...I think that "unschooling" would be an amazing learning tool for some families. I don't think it is right for every child, and I think that there should be some degree of educational goals to be achieved. (But, I have to wonder- would his son have ever been interested in learning long division had he not returned to public school, and been forced to do so to catch up with the class?)

SO, there is my two-cents. I think Unschooling has both pros and cons for parents to consider, but I think it has to come after basic skills are learned. How far after? I'm not sure.  Maybe as young as 8, maybe as high schoolers. For me, it depends on the child.

Thoughts?
 

www.unschooling.org
ABC News; Unschooling
Huffington Post (To counter the ABC Post)

Lizard Lickin' Good

 

Oh, yes! I knew all the spices were tightly sealed, so when K decided to open that cabinet and start pulling things out I thought it was for-sure ok...Yeah, I didn't think about the easy-off cheap snap lids on the food coloring. Her fingers are still green, but I did get her face clean.

A New Generation of CEC-ers.

 

We had a Wedding in Carmel for Ashleigh and Jon last weekend. We worked together at CEC in Kokomo, and they met there as well. I felt so special to be invited to attend...of course, I didn't realize I would be performing the "Bake a Cake" song at the wedding- but I'd say all the "old" CEC castmembers had a GREAT time doing it.

 

No, the wedding was not at CEC (Although, I see how you might think that) - We did have a few extra minutes on the way to stop into the old place and introduce both Victoria and Katelyn to the wonderful world of Chuck E Cheese's.

Mommy - W-O-W!

Little Miss K on her big girl potty. She was so proud of herself, it was the cutest thing ever. She giggled, and giggled, giggled!

Nothing Runs Like A Deere!

Well, Chris finally managed to convince me that the Toro needed to be replaced. Here we are on the new toy.

Someone is ready...

For some FOOTBALL!

Hmm... Forget Cheerleading - If she could stand better, and move around in the pocket, I'd say Katelyn is looking for someone open to throw the ball to.