Month: July 2008

You know what I’m talking about. The Inner Elmo. The la, la, la, la that runs through your head all day. You just want to make it stop. I can imagine that parents with a talking Elmo doll are probably on the brink of insanity. I think that’s maybe what happened to Christy.

We were at knitting one Saturday afternoon and I was talking about how much Bella LOVED Elmo. Christy said she had an Elmo to give me if I wanted one. It was in her closet. I told her thanks, but I don’t need an Elmo that continues to sing la, la, la, la after I turn Sesame Street off. She said no worries. This Elmo doesn’t work anymore. Oh. Well, in that case, cool! We’d love to have an Elmo!

When I brought him home a few weeks later and showed T he had two things to say: “Oh my god, Bella is going to LOVE that!” and “Oh my god, does it talk?” I told him that Elmo was broken and he said, “Cool!”

I showed him the doll and he commented on how heavy Elmo was. All that mechanical stuff inside made him kind of clunky. T suggested that I take it out. Huh? He reminded me that I can sew and that I could do anything I wanted with Elmo. Yes, knowing how to sew can sometimes be dangerous. It makes you fearless with regards to Opening. Up. Elmo.

5 Easy Steps for Silencing your Inner Elmo

1. With a seam ripper, carefully open up the fabric around the battery box.
2. The battery box is part of a bigger box, which is held in place by a heavy duty plastic tie. Cut the tie.
3. The box is also connected to the mouth and hand by small wires. Cut the wires as close to the hand and mouth as possible.
4. At this point, you might want to throw Elmo in the washer on the gentle cycle. I didn’t put him in the dryer, but rather let him air dry. (I’m not sure why I was so cavalier about ripping him apart and throwing him in the washer, but timid about putting him in the dryer.)
5. When dry, stuff him with some FiberFil and sew him up!

I did all of this in the evening after Bella was in bed. I was afraid she’d get upset if she saw me cutting Elmo’s insides out. A few days after he was finished, Bella was freaking out about getting dressed because OH MY GOD PLEASE DON’T MAKE ME TAKE OFF MY ELMO PAJAMAS. I was in a hurry get out of the house, so I made a deal with her: take off the Elmo PJs and I’ll let you play with a real Elmo.

They have been best friends ever since.

 

Thank you, Christy! 

T has been riding his bike to work the past few weeks. He needed something to keep his pants from getting caught in the chain. I offered to make him something out my scrap fabric.

We measured twice, with his pants on. Somehow the first one turned out too small and the second one too big. Hopefully, this one will be just right. Once I get the measurements down, I’m going to make a second one for him. I might also write up a tutorial, although it’s pretty straight forward. I used a cotton fabric that looks like denim, but is lighter in weight (and hopefully cooler, too!). I also used some fusible interfacing and velcro.

Did you make something yourself this week? Post it here.

Remember the bibs I made for Bella? I took my pattern and sized it down for infants. I backed them with terry cloth to make them super absorbent for little droolers. I really like how they turned out and plan to make a bunch more. Details over at etsy, of course.