Sunday, August 30, 2009

hospital crafts

I love the "can do!" and the "make do" spirit of crafting but have lately given into the allure of perfect supplies and beautiful materials. I cannot say I fully regret that. I do love me some beautiful materials. But I have many frugal bones in my still-sorta-bony body and am a child of a child of a child of The Depression and, as such, love a good challenge.

After surgery, an orthopedic resident brought by a big brown sling with a stiff & scratchy strap. "Hmmm," he said, in a surprisingly disappointed tone, "I don't think this will fit him." Sometimes I wonder if I really am at a children's hospital. Some of the residents seem rather surprised at this, too (the same dumb ones who march in with jolly voices at 6:23 am and ask, "Oh, did I wake you?"). Daddy cut up a flannel blanket and made a handy scouter sling. This is how Reuben felt about it*:Mama had a bit of fabric and also found nice soft tubular gauze and took impossibly and inappropriately tiny stitches with silk thread because she needed a work of love just then. For her Reuben*:*photos may have been selectively chosen with great bias
(which is not really fair because I was very proud of his can-do crafting spirit and it worked fine but I wanted to make one and then I'm the one who dresses him)

Project #2:Audrey has a great love of all things starred. She also has a great love of long-legged dark jeans, and we both thought her back-to-school pair was a bit plain. I brought them to the hospital this week and, though I was a bit unprepared, was able to make do:

A quick image search on the hospital room's computer + paper towels + medical tape = perfect star embroidery templates! A double set, even, since the towel was 2-ply :). I just pinned them straight on the jean leg (I let Audrey do the arranging) and stitched around the templates (in lieu of a good photo, I amped up the effects. clever, clever me: such a good trick!).

When I got home, I added details with silver thread, tracing inside one of the stars and adding a tiny pocket detail.They're so awesome, they made the first-day-of-school outfit cut.

9 comments:

stgraham said...

I am always in awe or your craftiness and cleverness even in the oh so not craft friendly places/

sallyavena said...

Very styling for back to school. And great crafting on the fly! Clara is here talking to Reuben's picture...it's really cute.

Alyssa said...

You Rock!
I almost started crying when I saw Reuben's sad face sling...thanks for letting me off the hook on that by following with the happy sling photo.

Natalie said...

Love the sling in your wonderful green leaves. And the pants I am seriously thinking of stealing -- as usual. Karissa has the exact same pants and some that are even more unexciting. I'm thinking birthday!!!!

me said...

Oh, I wish my girls could wear such great jeans to school. I would love the opportunity to make them look better...but yours are so cute, and I love the sling, nice fabric.

Anonymous said...

I have taken to showing my husband the Reuben photos, partly because he is so cute and partly in admiration of your work. The sling is adorable. Love the jeans, too.

goat said...

I don't think my sling is getting near enough attention.

One, it _is_ awesome.

Two, it was completed much more quickly than Val's.

And, three, it was on, like _right now_, because he needed one, _right now_. (Val's didn't appear until the next day.)

My sling was functional in the duct tape and chicken wire aesthetic, which is just plain awesome.

(He's sad in the picture probably because his mom pinched him or something--or just because he wasn't used to having the sling on...)

So there...

vfg said...

I was bad to not give it the credit deserved. And it was there instantly. Praising the mancraft!

Anonymous said...

Maybe you have found a new craft market, cute little baby slings for Ped Hospitals.

SD

PS I'm sure Goat's inspiration for the makeshift sling came from a repressed memory from his time at Scout camp this summer.