My review of the Purple Pillow, Casper Pillow, and Coop Pillow

By Jillian, age 10

We decided to test the Casper Pillow, the Purple Pillow and the Coop Pillow because we needed new pillows. So we tested all three pillows to see which one we like the best.

Casper Pillow

CASPER PILLOW

The Casper Pillow was 65 dollars regular price. We got it at 60 dollars with a discount. It was shipped in two days, faster than the other two pillows. It also has a 30 day money back guarantee. It actually is 2 pillows, one inside of the other, one for fluff and the other for firm. They advertise that it's as soft as a cloud. It is as soft as a cloud because you fall right through! I didn't like this pillow that much. It was too soft.

Purple Pillow

PURPLE PILLOW

The Purple Pillow was 109 dollars. It was shipped in 8 days. It also had a 100 night trial. They also say it is high tech and has no memory foam inside of it. The inside of the pillow feels very weird. The best way to describe it is how when you squish a bag of water, that's how it feels. I love the Purple Pillow and it feels like sleeping on water.

Coop Pillow

COOP PILLOW

The Coop Pillow was $79.99, but with a discount it was 72 dollars. It took 13 days, the longest of all the pillows. The guarantee is 100 nights. They advertise that you can add or remove fluff from the pillow so that it can feel good to everyone. It is okay but not the best.

CONCLUSION

All the pillows where pretty good, but, my favorite pillow is the Purple Pillow because its so different from all the other pillows. It feels like I'm sleeping on water! The Casper Pillow was my least favorite because it was too fluffy and the Coop Pillow isn't as good as the Purple Pillow.

Inside view of the Purple Pillow

Entire inside view

Pepper Street Bucket Hat

I've been looking for a good bucket hat pattern for years - my kids inherited such big heads, that a lot of the cute kid hats in stores just don't fit them. Enter the new Pepper Street Bucket Hat by Tie Dye Diva Patterns. This hat comes in 9 different sizes for a perfect fit from infant to adult. In addition, there's the option to make it reversible, with a stripe or color block, or add a chin strap or drawcord.

I went with an otter theme, because William is obsessed with these guys lately. It also gave me an excuse to play with my new Cricut Maker.

I wanted to use fabric that complements the otter theme and gave the kids several options. Jillian chose the shell and William chose a water texture.

Check out those eyelets!

Happy Summer!

Peony Top and Pansy Shorts

It's show and tell time! I got to test Tie Dye Diva Sewing Patterns new releases, the Peony top and Pansy shorts. It's hard to find patterns that Jillian likes these days, now that she's 10 years old and all, and to be honest, she wasn't sold on the drawing but once I had them finished she loves them!

There's multiple options for the Peony top - cropped or hip length, tiered ruffles or without, on or off the shoulders and with or without ties on the shoulders. Then of course add in the variety of fabrics and trims and the options are endless.

The Pansy Shorts can have ruffles, lace or other trim and offer pockets!!!

Birthday Wings

Jillian really wanted dragon wings for her birthday and since we're quarantined at home and couldn't have a party I really wanted to make these happen. Enter twig and Tale's Dragon Wings pattern!

Winter Wonderland Girl Scout Dance

I made Jillian the Venice dress by Little Lizard King for our school's Girl Scout Winter Wonderland Dance.

Halloween Dress (Jewel Stripwork Dress by Create Kids Couture)

This dress is pretty much made according to the pattern, with the 3/4 sleeves, no bottom ruffle and optional sash. The only change I'd make is to alternate the halloween fabric every other on the strips instead of every two or three strips...I just don't think you can see enough of the halloween just by glancing at it. I would have done other halloween fabrics but none seemed to match the circle fabric (it has bats, ghosts, "boo", witch hats, pumpkins, and candy corn in the various colored circles) very well, and I just fell in love with it.

I'm really thinking about making a similar dress for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Valentines day!

You can buy this pattern from Create Kids Couture here:

 - Girls sizes 6-12 months to size 8

Willow Wrap Jacket (Create Kids Couture)

I made this pattern in a sew-along on Facebook with the designer, Create Kids Couture. Each day of the sew-along there is an assignment and you post a photo of your progress.

I chose a thin corduroy for the outer layer and flannel for the lining. The sash and ruffle is also flannel, but next time I'll use a cotton for those because I don't care for the look of flannel after it starts to get worn and washed. It's nice and soft for the lining though so I'd keep it there. The pattern calls for a sash closure, but knowing my 3 year old, I knew that was not practical, so I sewed the sash onto the jacket (next time I'll do this before sewing the jacket outer to the lining). Then I added a 1" snap to hold the jacket closed. I am going to add a half inch snap toward the top to keep it closed up there too when my cuckoo kiddo is running around.

This was a really simple pattern, and came together nicely - and it was so fun to watch everyone making the jacket together and posting their photos!

Day 1: Cutting

Day 2: Bodices - outer and lining

Day 3: Skirt and Gathering

Day 4: Bodice Ruffle

Completed Jacket

I am so in love with this pattern! So much so that I am going to make one for myself (yes the pattern comes in girls, tweens and adult sizes!). I'm almost anxious for fall temps to get here so she can wear it!

You can buy this pattern from Create Kids Couture here:

- Girls sizes 6-12 months to size 8
- Tweens sizes 7/8 to 15/16
- Womens sizes XS to XL

Grace Ruffle Dress (Funktional Threads)

Front and back views

I just recently completed a sew-along on the Funktional Threads facebook group. I've been wanting to try a mixed fabric print style dress for awhile, but honestly wasn't confident that I'd pick fabrics that looked good together! I spent quite awhile at JoAnn Fabric trying to match the colors and get a good mix of fabric styles - striped, polka-dots, damask. And, as many veteran "mixed print" sewers warned me, I am now hooked on mixing prints - I've got a halloween dress in the works with 5 different fabrics as well!

My fabrics

It took a good two hours to cut out all the pieces - this dress was more complicated than I realized at first! I spent a week total from start to finish working on the dress. I even learned a new technique for ruffling that is AMAZING - I will never go back to the baste stitch technique. Here's the tutorial I used to learn the clear-elastic ruffle technique.

Apron Ruffle using Clear-Elastic Technique

The seam ripper did get a bit of use on this project, but honestly, it was as complicated as it was time consuming due to all the ruffles and top stitching. I love the final result though! I made the size 4 for my little sweetie and I did have to adjust the elastic in the back bodice so that it wasn't so loose on her. Otherwise it fits perfectly and the best part of making something yourself is being able to make adjustments to fit your model.

 

The pattern comes in sizes 18 months thru girls 14, and includes many different options. Purchase this pattern from Funktional Threads by clicking the image below!

Click the image to purchase the pattern

First Day of School!

Jillian started preschool this week! Such a cutie and so proud of her pony backpack. We went out to lunch after school and when we got home she asked if she could go back to school.

Day 16: Something New

We tried a new activity from pinterest today. It's flour and baby oil. It ends up having a consistency similar to beach sand. It feels pretty cool, but Jillian got a little too excited and threw it all over the kitchen. The recipe is 4 cups of flour to 1 cup of baby oil, but I ended up using a whole bag of flour and a whole bottle of baby oil.

Want to play along?

 

Day 13: Blue

The only "real" snow of the winter thus far, and it lasted less than 24 hours. Jillian discovered how much she LOVES the snow and the sled and ever since has been talking about the "snowy" non-stop.

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Day 7: Button

Yellow buttons on Jillian's new stuffed Mario backpack. She has been carrying him around non-stop since she picked him out last night.

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Day 5: 10 am

At 10 am today Jillian was eating her tortilla chip breakfast (she refused everything else and only ended up eating 2 chips before kicking the bowl onto the floor) and pouting because I took the iphone from her because she had already spent an hour watching youtube videos.

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Day 3: Hands

I love how this challenge gives me a chance to take some "in the moment" photos that I might not otherwise pull the camera out for. Here are my sweetie's hands, working the iphone. Today she discovered the youtube app and is browsing thru the list of related videos to find more mario videos to watch.  

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Day 1: Your View Today

How awesome is it to have a high of 61 on February 1 in St. Louis?! We went for a walk at lunchtime with daddy at the Phantom Forest Conservation Area in Des Peres. My heart just melts when I see daddy and daughter share little bonding moments like this.

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