I did not finish everyone’s Easter outfits this year. The 4th of July outfits were finished 3 weeks late. I’ve already decided not to attempt to make everyone’s Halloween costumes and just buy those instead, however. . .
The annual Steam Engine Show featuring old tractors and farm equipment? Yeah, I decided the week of that I was going to make alllllllll the kids (the 4 in my house plus my two nieces) matching outfits for that occasion.
As I obviously wasn’t going to have the time to make 6 complete outfits from scratch, I decided to start with a short cut - plain black T-shirts and tractor fabric pre-cuts from from Walmart. (Yes, I’m really feeling the loss of Joann’s. Half yard pre-cuts from a very limited selection does not satisfy the way picking just the right fabric and getting yardage cut does)
I picked up a plain black t-shirt in the correct size for each big kid, a plain black onesie for my baby niece, and 4 half-yard cuts of red tractor fabric. (We tend to be John Deere family, but I decided to go more generic this year to match the theme of the show.) I would cut out tractor motifs to applique onto the front of the boys' T-shirts, and I would do the same for the girls' shirts and onesie, along with adding skirts to turn the shirts into drop-waisted dresses.
The first thing I did upon unfolding and washing all the fabric was identify the best tractor motifs near the edges of the fabric cuts. From there, I figured out how much fabric I would have for the girls' skirts. If I cut everything just right I would have about a panel and a half of width to work with for each big girl's skirt, and the skirts should come out right around knee length. There should be just enough left over for a little skirt for the baby too. I cut the girls' skirts first then cut out each individual tractor from the remaining fabric.
Next I picked a tractor to go on each T-shirt. I decided I liked the big rectangle patches best on the boys' shirts and the appliques cut closer around the tractors on the girls' shirts. The smallest applique still looked pretty darned big on the baby's onesie.
Once each applique was picked and placed I began the long and tedious task of zig-zagging around each one to attach them to the shirts. The cat offered his assistance.
By contrast, making and gathering each skirt onto the girls' shirts was a breeze! But then there was the ribbon. Ohhhh the ribbon. The entire project almost failed with the ribbon, or rather the pursuit of acquiring the ribbon.
All started off well, I found some lovely gold ribbon that would work just right and my sister and I took our time browsing the store. The nearest Hobby Lobby to me is a good half hour away, so I rarely make it there these days and I try to make the most of it when I do. Upon making our selections we went to check out. As the person right in front of us in line was getting rung up the computer system for the entire store shut down. They couldn't do any transactions what so ever. We waited around for 20 minutes or so in hopes the system would be quickly restored. It wasn't. The poor employees were so stressed. We were told it would probably be a couple hours so they had us leave our phone numbers with our cart full of merchandise and said they'd call us when the system was up and running again. Thus, I left Hobby Lobby without the ribbon. And this was the day before the Steam Engine show. I had to get the dresses done that afternoon during nap time or they just wouldn't happen.
My mom came to meet us when she finished at the school and we stayed in the area visiting a couple other stores to kill time. (I did manage to find 3/4 of the kids' Halloween costumes at one store, so the time wasn't an entire loss!) Not knowing how long it would take Hobby Lobby to call me back since they had a lot of customers to call once the system was back up and running, I tried calling the store after every stop we made. The phone just rang and rang. It was connected to the computer system, and obviously the system was still down. Finally, after we went to lunch my call went through - they were back up and running and we could return to get our stuff!
There was only one problem, it was time for me to go pick my kids up from school - I had no time to go to Hobby Lobby anymore, and once everyone got home from school it was unlikely I'd have a chance to sneak down to the basement and finish the dresses.
My mom came to the rescue! She offered to swap vehicles with me and go pick up the kids from school while my sister and I returned to Hobby Lobby. So that's what we did - now hopefully I'd find a bit of sewing time that evening.
Thanks to my Husband getting home from work earlier than expected and taking care of the kids and dinner I did!!
The next morning the kids were thrilled to have new tractor clothes to wear to see all the tractors!
Once that was over it was time to explore!
The great big old steam engine tractors are great fun to see. . . and climb on!
Going even more old-fashioned than the steam engines, there were the draft horses - which my kids loved getting to see and pet!
We toured the old 1870's farm house, which is always one of my favorite things. Most of the kids found it a bit boring, and the one who found it interesting didn't understand why he wasn't allowed to play with the old toys on display. . .
Good thing there were more tractors to admire after that!
My parents took us kids to the Steam Engine show almost every year growing up,
And it was super special getting to share that with the next generation!
