How to make a child’s art smock in a snap

Make this in a snap, AND make it inexpensively, of course!

I noticed a sweet little friend had managed to paint her clothing at school the other day, and remember this handy project.

NOTE: This smock provides adequate protection for many budding artists, but because it is fabric, a big enough spill can soak through.

If you are especially concerned, add additional protection with water-repellant spray once you are done.

MATERIALS:

• Sewing machine and thread
• Scissors, sharp enough for fabric. Pinking shears – with a zig-zag edge – are best, because they slow unraveling.
• Straight pins
• Long-sleeved shirt, about 2 sizes larger than the child. Arm length doesn’t matter, but it should be large enough to fit over clothing easily, and small enough not to drag on the floor. If you need to buy a shirt, look for a thick fabric such as oxford cloth – paint will take longer to soak through!
• Elastic for wrists.
  How much? Measure around wrist (comfortably – not too snug) and use that amount, plus 1″ to sew ends together. Use whatever width you have available, or look for 1/2″ W. It is thick enough to be comfortable, and yet not bind too much.
• Large safety pin for threading elastic.
• Fancier touches:  Approx. 1 yd ribbon to cut in half and use to tie in back, cinching it in a bit.

1. Cut cuffs off of the shirt.
2. Sew a zigzig or other finishing stitch over the raw sleeve edges to prevent unraveling.
3. Turn shirt and sleeves inside out.
4. Make a casing (tube for the elastic) by folding sleeve up 1 ½ ” (or width of elastic + 1″). Pin casing. Repeat for other sleeve.
   The raw edge of the casing should be pinned against the inside of the sleeve.
5. Sew seam ½” from raw edge, but not completely around. You will need to leave an opening of approximately 1 ½” for threading elastic.
6. Measure and cut elastic.
   Attach a safety pin to the end of the elastic.
7. *** Hold firmly to the unpinned end of the elastic so it does not slip into the casing.***
8. Then, begin working the safety pin portion through the opening, threading the elastic into the casing.
9. Once the elastic is threaded through the casing, pin the elastic ends together with 1 or 2 straight pins. (You should have allowed yourself 1″ to overlap the elastic.)
10. Pull the elastic away from the fabric, and sew the elastic together so it is now a complete circle. Use several zigzag stitches up and down the elastic, or make a small square on it.
11. Repeat steps 4-10 for the second sleeve, and you are done!
    —— Optional:
12. To add tie ribbons, have child try the shirt on and locate child’s waist. Pin the end of one ribbon at waist height in back, approximately 4″ from the left side seam.
    Repeat on the right side with the second ribbon.
13. Sew the pinned ribbon with zigzag stitches over approximately 1″ of ribbon.  Finish the unattached edge of each ribbon either with clear nail polish, or by folding and sewing it.

 

The joys of bread

I’ve mentioned Beth Hensberger’s The Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook before, but I have to mention it again. If you use yourbread maker, or want to, buy this book. I use mine so often that I’m going to have to wrap my covers in contact paper &  tie a ribbon around it. The binding may be suffering, but my family is content! 

Why make bread? If you need a reason besides smell, making bread gives you good ingredients at a good price. Bread makers make it easy, and Beth shows how to play with ingredients to get the texture you want. I recently started adding ascorbic acid, one of her tips, and it produced a delightfully light loaf of bread. My 10 y.o. son pronounced it the best bread I’d ever made.

And if you are intimidated by the cost of breadmakers, go to Goodwill. You will likely find a row FULL of machines that other people quickly retired.

Why do folks get so intimidated by making bread, even with a breadmaker? I think it is because of the number of ingredients – you typically need to measure more than 3 ingredients for most loaves, and if you look at box mixes for “home-made” cakes, that seems to be the magic number.  This is a real obstacle, so here are a couple of considerations:

1. Homemade, factory style. Find a recipe you have had success with.  Purchase the main ingredients (I don’t use the yeast for this step, but as a cost note, I buy the costco size of yeast.  It isn’t exactly the “right” yeast, but it is vastly cheaper, I go through it quickly, and compensate by adding a little more.) Take out old pasta sauce jars, 4-cup plastic tubs, or plastic bags that will then hold the bread. Measure all the dry ingredients except yeast into the containers.  I like assembly line style, so all the flour, then all the gluten, and so on. It almost goes without saying, but count carefully. I ended up with 4 batches of cookie dough all missing a cup of flour – apparently the phone conversation was too distracting! I figured it out before making them all, but it was still an irritant. I ended up using the crumbs from the mistakes for a pie crust.

2. Easy access. If you can grab it all from one place, it goes much faster and is also easier to have children help. I have a shelving unit (inexpensive wood shelves, since this house doesn’t have a pantry to speak of). All my baking goods are located right next to one another, save the yeast (in the refrigerator). Some flours don’t store well at room temperatures >70F, but I either don’t buy those or go through them quickly, since I no longer have the freezer space for them.
I buy pretzels in large containers and then save them for baking ingredients. I printed clear labels from my computer, and they now have a rather nice look, at least for a bunch of ingredients sitting out in the open. I don’t like to buy things when I can re-use something I already own.

3. The Art of Substitution.  When you are comfortable substituting, you don’t need as many items on hand.  Flours can be substituted, and Beth’s book helps one determine the implications (will I need more gluten, more liquid, etc.). I freely substitute oils, based on what I have on hand, or what needs to be used up first. The flavor might be somewhat different, but the consistency works fine. I also substitute sweeteners – honey / maple syrup / molasses. I like local honey, on the theory that it may help somewhat with allergies. I like black-strap molasses for iron and rich flavor. And I love real maple syrup for rich mineral content and heavenly flavor.

4. Recipe Simplicity. One of our favorite breads (at least for the rest of the family, since I no longer eat wheat, alas) uses eggs, water, gluten, flour, salt, sugar, and yeast. Very simple. Beth’s book offers a number of very simple recipes to keep things streamlined.

One of my favorite recipes is the “Whole-grain Daily Bread” on p.181 in my copy. Three moves ago, I used it to clear out my pantry, since we were using storage for 6 weeks and no food could be moved. I went through the obvious choices – oatmeal, 7-grain, 11-grain, kashi, barley, and wheat berries. And then I moved on to the less obvious choices: wild rice, brown rice, grits…I  successfully used it all up. Results ranged from “not bad” to GREAT.

I use the breadmaker often for pizza dough, as well. It seems like this may be the most common use! With whole grains and appropriate toppings & quantities, pizza can become a perfectly healthy dinner. Since there aren’t eggs in the dough, give the children a bit to work with – they can also nibble while they work. This participation will make them more excited about the results, too!

There can be a conversion process if everyone is used to the Pizza Palace version with 600-calorie slices of bleached white flour, pounds of cheese, and fat & nitrate-rich pepperoni.

Depending on your household culture, do a gradual change over, increasing good things and decreasing not-so-healthy  things over time, or do a cold-turkey switch. 

You already know that whole grains support good blood sugar levels much more effectively, provide more protein, and don’t weigh one down for days. Increasing the proportion of whole grains through pizza and homemade bread can make a positive diet difference one can feel quickly.