The Girl is just a little bit obsessed with The Warriors book series. It takes her a week or two to read each book, and she is about done with the first series of 6 books. We have bought her the next series of 5 books. She is in 3rd grade and reads at a 4th grade level (books say they are for 5-7 graders).
I have found her several times (just about every night) reading well past her bed-time. This makes her even more sloth-like in the morning than usual. Tired and cranky, but still reading, that is our girl!
It is all about cats and cat clans right now.
She even had to do a report on the author whereby she found out that it is 6 different authors writing as Erin Hunter. Her response was:
*GASP* “THEY LIED!”
Yes, well…how do you think they churn out so many books? That writing thing takes time.
So…cats!
I bought some cat stencils from the Silhouette store, as it is much easier to buy them than to draw, scan, clean up in Photoshop and then import into the Silhouette software. Plus, I have about $25 store credit left from when Brian got me the machine.
This first item I used the Silhouette to cut out is a pink glitter vinyl. The shirt is a slinky rayon with silver fibers woven into it, and the sleeve and cowl fabric has glitter on it. It is a very sparkly top.
The bottoms are a stretch twill. I added a glitter velvet ribbon to the sides to dress it up a bit. I made it easier to keep the ribbon in place by using Wondertape on it to place before doing a wide zigzag stitch over the ribbon.
I got it done and showed it to her in the morning. She put it on and then…bring on the complaints!
I didn’t want a turtleneck.
This ribbon is scratchy!
It itches at the shoulder!
I ITCH ALL OVER!
May the Good Lord save me from the teenage years, because I know it will only get worse. Oh the drama!
UGH!
Anyways…onward. I took the ribbon out of the waistband area and in the future will not use seam tape at her shoulder seams (keeps it from over stretching).
Next outfit with no itchiness…
This one is a bit of a transition piece. The tank top underneath can go into summer. Another cat vinyl cut out, and I used black fold over elastic for the edges of the neckline and arms. Pretty simple top. She didn’t like the cat whiskers that were on the design, so I erased them and added iron on rhinestones for whiskers.
Now it has some sparkle. As it should.
This next one is a silky sweater knit. It was a bit unraveling, so I had to be careful when I sewed it up. I did a rolled hem at the bottom, and went over it twice so it was pretty enclosed. Due to the nature of the hem there are a lot of wayward threads, though.
To complete the outfit, I made a simple pair of heavy knit leggings. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the full yardage to do leggings, so I just patched the bottom of the legs. Making it work!
Boy she is looking tall these days!
I have another outfit cut out for her and a shirt for the Boy, so more to come!
Looking good!
The details of the glitter velvet ribbon tuxedo stripe and the rhinestone whiskers sure are fun.
We have a cat lover in our home as well 🙂
(You should really share these with the next So Cool for the Tween Scene linky party when it comes around).
Way to go, Mom, darling outfits made to suit her and her interests. Oh, the teenage years, gotta love them!