One Yard Wonders

We went to a fabulous bookstore this weekend called McKay Books. It was amazing! While there, I picked up a copy of a book called One Yard Wonders by Rebecca Yaker and Patricia Hoskins. It was $11, and all the pattern pieces in the front of the book were completely intact. Score!

This book has it all- cute, cheap ideas that only involve 1 yard of fabric and some other miscellaneous things. It's illustrated, and the steps are easy to follow. There's a section on home decor, clothes, practical things (like a laundry bag), out-and-about things like bags and picnic place mats, kids' clothes (mostly little girls), stuff for pets, and fun and games.

I decided I wanted to make something for my friend's little boy. He turned 1 on April 9th (I'm posting this after the fact since I don't want her to see it!). What cuter than a little stuffed dinosaur that you can attach to a wheeled base and pull around? Then you can take it off and cuddle with it!

The pieces were simple- two body shapes, an underbelly, spines, and four round circles serving as foot pieces. I chose a cute polka-dot fabric with blue and green spots.

For the spines, you sew them together and then flip them inside out and topstitch. Then you put the body together, spines inside, and sew that. Then you dart the underbelly and attach it to the body, sewing each leg individually (I nearly sewed all 4 legs together! Oops!). After that, you attach Velcro to the foot pieces, then attach the foot pieces. That was the trickiest part for me- I'm not that great yet with the sewing machine doing anything but straight lines, and I even manage to make those crooked.

After all the sewing, you flip the dino inside out and stuff him. I used Fiberfill and stuffed him tight so he'd stand up on his own and be comfortable enough to hug. I imagine you could also put beans in his feet to weight him down if you wanted to.

Steggie the Stegosaurus!

For the base, all I needed was a wooden plaque, 4 wooden wheels, and 4 axles from the craft store. I painted the whole base blue with acrylic (non-toxic, knowing how kids like to stick things in their mouths) paint. I drilled holes for the axles and then used a hammer to push each one in. I popped the wheels on over the axles and adjusted the fit. Then I used a screw eye in the front where I attached the ribbon for pulling. I used a soft velvet ribbon- figured tactile sensations are good for kids.

The Velcro came with its own glue, so it was easy to stick on the base.

I'm super excited to give this as a gift. It came out great! I'll have to write back and update with what my friend- and her little boy- thought of it.

So cute!

He's ready to roll.

Update: Friend and her son loved the dinosaur! Got plenty of compliments. She said it was the first thing he played with the next morning. Aww!!