My son mentioned this week that he wants a Cub Scout vest.
This is the simplest thing to make. I used my son’s uniform shirt to measure the width and armholes, and I cut the felt just like it looks from the Cub Scout store vest that I linked above. I then sewed the pieces together.
Cub Scout Vest
Supplies:
red felt (I bought mine on sale for $1.87 a 72″ yard after sale and extra discounts; you will need about 1 1/4 yards for 2 vests)
red thread
Tools:
scissors
sewing needle
sewing machine (optional; you could sew these by hand)
Time:
The total time for vest was 20 minutes
Today I made two vests. My younger son will start Cub Scouts at the beginning of next year, so I am going to give him one, too.
Cost:
$0.95 per vest. That’s much better than the $14.99 at the Scout store!
You can see the rest of the gifts I’ve made in my Gift a Day series here.
What did you make today?
You do beautiful work…I wish I was so talented.
Ha! When my son was in Cub Scouts I made all the vests for the troop. The only difference between yours and mine was I added a large eyelet on each side for a leather rawhide tie. I still have the excess felt in my sewing stash! I was like you … no way I was going to pay $14.99 for the vests. Maybe you can offer to sew them for the other members and make some extra $$. You could charge them $5.00 less and still make a good profit!
Good thing the American Cub vests are so simple. When I was in Canadian Brownies and Guides, it would have been pretty much impossible to make something that matched the storebought uniforms. (Found an online photo here: http://www.girlsliterature.com/2012/07/so-long-god-and-liz-new-australian-girl.html .) Nowadays I think even those have been much simplified.What did I make today? An 18-inch doll apron (sewn) and oven mitt (crocheted), as part of a kitchen kit I’m making for my daughter. (Don’t tell.) I also worked on decorating the box for the kit, while she was out at a swimming lesson. (Trouble with homeschooling, it’s hard to find privacy for things like paint and glue.)
Great job – I love that you sew such practical, useful things. It really inspires me.I am still working on a shawl for my mother. It is working up very nicely, and I’m happy with my progress. I can only crochet for so long before my fingers get numb, so I have to take it in little bits. Even so, I think I’m about a third done.The other thing I ‘made’ today was neat. Our church puts together little care packages that we can give to the men and women that are on street corners asking for help. I made 12 of those today. Each lunch bag has a pair of socks or gloves inside, a fruit cup, some sweet and some salty snack foods (like packages of crackers or granola bars), a bottled water, a message of encouragement, chap stick, sample size toiletries…they vary a little from bag to bag, but everyone contributes what they can, and it always comes together. I had lots of toothbrushes and lip balm I’d gotten free with coupons, so I added those from my drawer. 🙂 I know….not home-made exactly, but it made for such a joyful afternoon!
I didn’t make a Christmas gift today but I did make something else. My husband is a pastor and we often send flowers or Bibles when someone in the church has a relative who passes away. We are really feeling the Christmas crunch especially tight since we just came back from visiting family 10 hours away (over $200 just for gas). I purchased a bouquet of flowers for 3.99 at Aldi (grocery store). I cut all of the stems down and placed them in a vase I already had on hand. Then I arranged them a little and found a beautiful piece of yellow satin ribbon in my stash. It then occurred to me that I didn’t have a florist tag to write on so I made a tag with my Cricut and attached it to the ribbon around the vase. My husband dropped off the bouquet at the funeral home this evening and to be honest it looked just about as nice as if I had plopped down $30 at the florist! I’m thankful we were able to still bless this family during their time of grief but not go broke in the process!
I have a friend who is in the process of adopting a little girl (3). I made her soon-to-be-daughter a little baby doll and an adoption certificate. Small children often don’t have the vocabulary to express their emotions, and no doubt this child is having some fairly complex emotions because of her particular set of circumstances. I thought she could use this doll to act out how she’s feeling, which would help my friend and her husband know how to respond to her concerns.
I have heard of people making these before. What touches me the most about this are the socks and gloves, because those are SO needed.
My made my kids each vests. I bought the fabric ( I didnt use felt) . They cost $2 each ( I had coupons for the fabric.). I liked that I could wash them if I needed to. ( my younger boys attract dirt….)
Today I worked on crocheted hats for our upcoming Christmas Bazaar at church. Some are girly…..as a mom to all boys, it’s fun once in a while to have an opportunity to do something more feminine.
I finished a lace ruffled scarf in lime green for my older daughter, in lime green. I received the yarn for free, but did have to purchase a set of circular knitting needles, for which I paid $4.79 with a 40% off coupon. I worked on and off on it for about a week.Yesterday I gave 12 handmade gifts at the last meeting of my homeschool group this year. I gave four bookmarks, four para cord bracelets, three knitted scarves, and a set of four knitted coasters.
I finished a ruffled lace knitted scarf in lime green for my older daughter. I used yarn that was given to me, but I did have to purchase a set of circular knitting needles, for which I used a coupon and paid $4.59. I will be able to use the needles again for other projects. I worked off and on over the period of a week to complete it. I am really pleased with it, as it is probably the nicest knitting project I have made to date!
Your so smart~ wish I had been smart when the kids were little!I made and I’m sending them off two dresses for little dresses for Africa. I put your rose embroidery on one of them that you used on the socks~ thanks for all your help.
When my boys were cubscouts I made their vest aslo. 2 are now Eagle scouts and my 3rd son will be in the next few months. My youngest son is finishing his last year of cubscouts. After 12 consecutive years of cubscouts it will be odd not doing cubscouts anymore.I’m making ballet skirts for my older daughter for Christmas. I’m also making a party girl dress for her American Girl doll that matches the party girl dress she will be wearing in the Nutcracker this year.
Last year in school my oldest was in the elementary honors society and they did this exact same thing, only they also included a Bible, it was a slim New Testament. Each student took 3 home with instructions to hand them out when we saw a homeless person on a corner(we have alot of those here). After that my kids and I bought a package of socks and we hand out the socks, when we run out we will buy some more.m,
I’ve been making earings, and plan to finish some hair flowers today, and a hair band. I got some inspiration here, I doubt I’ll make anything the way she did, but I am using her ideas to spark my own.
Oh my gosh! This is the first time I’ve been to your blog. I have been wanting to do something like this for my kids for ages for their National Parks Junior Ranger badges and my sons’ scout badges, and just couldn’t figure it out. Thank you for the perfect post on my first visit to your blog!
I’m glad you’re here! Make sure to check out my website in addition to my blog 🙂
VERY sweet! I remember and miss those days!
Brandy, I’m just curious, but do you make your Christmas decorations as well?I know people who add something to every room in the house, then there are those like me, who only do the main rooms of the house. We have an almost zero budget for Christmas this year and I’m trying to make things look cheery around the house using what we already have but I do not sew and have failed at most arts & crafts things I tried. I was thinking of those foil dangles that were from your sons birthday party…but after that, I’m stumped. We do not have alot of decorating items because our house burned down last summer. So, simply put, I want to be creative using everyday items for this endevor. Any more suggestions?Thank you, H
I don’t buy new things for Christmas very often. We have an artifical tree and some artifical greens. We have a nativity set, a wreath for the door, a nativity set, and some ornaments. Last year I was able to add two small wreaths to pu inside the house (artificial ones) for $2.50 each. I have wanted to have them for 5 years but last year was the first time I could fit the $5 in the budget for them. Someone gave me a piece of burlap and I cut part of it to hang them. We also added a few ornaments (ball ornaments) to replace some of the ones that had broken.That’s what I have.Having artifical greens and a tree mean that I can decorate each year without the expense each time. Plus, I’m allergic to the real thing :)If you have candles, you could put out more candles.
The decorations from my son’s party were made from brown paper. You could use grocery bags. Hang them on yarn or string. My daughter made them and drew the letters with crayons.Also, I have several ideas listed here for decorations made with paper: http://theprudenthomemaker.com/index.php/frugal-living/holidays/christmas as well as ideas for Christmas on a $0 budget.
Not sure of your climate, H, but do you have any real greens outside your home that you could cut and bring inside? I cut short pieces of evergreen (hemlock, holly and pine) and put them in vases on the mantel. I have an ornamental shrub that stays green all year and I steal some pieces from that, too.Another idea–do you know anyone that is getting a tree from a Christmas tree lot or farm? Often when they cut the tree, a few extra branches get trimmed off. Those often end up in the trash. Maybe you could get some of those, either from someone you know or by asking at the tree lot. One year when we lived in Vegas, the man at the lot told me I could take as many as I wanted because it was less for them to clean up.I made this last year with a leftover bow: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7159/6545403899_0a82765ce6_z.jpg
H, I don’t know how old your kids are, if they’re too old to think this is cute or if they’re still young enough to be excited by it, but my 6 year old and 3 year old just helped me make a ton paper chains out of construction paper. They’re the easiest thing in the world to make and if your budget won’t stretch to construction paper, you can also use newspapers, magazines, flyers from grocery stores, old art projects, greeting cards, whatever you’ve got on hand. We’ve got it hanging all over the house now and once the tree is up we’ll make another one for the tree. If your kids are still youngish, there are tons of fun ornaments you can make which don’t require much at all in the way of supplies. If your budget stretches for it, you don’t have to sew to make things with felt (glue works just as well). Again if your budget stretches for it, salt dough or play dough ornaments can be fun for kids to make. Your house doesn’t have to look like it belongs in a high-end magazine; Christmas is supposed to be fun. Our paper chains certainly won’t win any design awards – heck, I didn’t have any red construction paper so they don’t even look Christmasy – but every year we make them, because my husband has very fond memories of making paper chains at Christmas; to him, it’s not Christmas without paper chains hanging everywhere. When our kids are grown up it may well be a tradition they take with them and pass on to their kids. And what is more Christmasy than traditions?
thank you for all the ideas. WE are doing paper chains this weekend as well as paper snowflakes to put down our hallways and around the windows. I did make the garland yesterday, Sorry Brandy…I really thought they were from foil but paper bags were very easy. I also did cut some of the smaller branches and put them into mason jars. I took small strips of wrapping paper and wrapped the vases like a candy cane. It looks very festive! H