For Your Birthday, I Give You Dirt - Part 1

Well, I've had to set my shirt project down for a bit. I don't really like the strap look on me so, while I'm rethinking how it should go together, its time to get cracking on the birthday presents for my little Buttercup.

It's her first birthday and to help encourage gardening tendencies, her first gift is a variation on the amazingly talented LiEr's Play Dirt (and LiEr - if you're reading and in the market for a new best friend, call me! :D ).

I'm not going to rehash her excellent tutorial, but I do want to mention some of the changes I made.

In her notes, she mentions using pool noodles instead of foam to make the furrows. Wal-mart seems to think that summer in Maine ends at the beginning of July, so I got two pool noodles on sale. I took rectangles of brown polar fleece (nice and fuzzy) and sewed them into tubes just big enough for two pieces of pool noodle stacked one on top of the other. I tucked the ends in and hand-sewed them shut. I would like to report that the pool noodle method works great! By-the-by, two noodles can be cut into six pieces 19" long which makes three rows of "dirt".

I like LiEr's idea for simply fitting the foam pieces into a cardboard box or plastic planter. Sadly, Buttercup is going through a chewing stage and a throwing stage, so I opted to make a fabric box for my noodles. The purple fabric is for the outside and the white is for the inside. I wanted a stiffer material in the middle and as I had no interfacing handy, I opted for a bit of heavy canvas.

I cut the canvas piece first and it just fits the dimensions of my three covered noodles together. I cut the other two fabrics with an extra inch or so based on the size of the canvas.

I didn't want the pieces to shift around on me, so I sewed the three of them together around what will become the bottom of the planter box. It was easy enough to see through the white muslin to the canvas below it. Had I been thinking, I should probably have used a purple thread to disguise the fact that I can't sew a straight line to save my life. If you are a better seamstress than I (not an accomplishment by any means), you could probably do some interesting decorative stitches in colored thread for the outside of the box.

It's important to snip the corners of the box on a diagonal. I have tried three times to describe this using only my words. I am convinced that none of those tries made even the least bit of sense. So here's what: Look up at photo 2 again. See where I've circled? This is the spot you want to cut on a diagonal. Do that at all four corners. Phew. I feel so much better.

I turned the seam allowance down so that there is a white rim around the top of the box. I pinned the right sides of the corners together and stitched them. At this point I turned the piece right side out and put my "dirt" into the box to see how it fit.

It was a little loose for my liking, so I stitched the corners a second time making the piece 1/4 inch smaller at each seam. This made the noodles fit tighter into the box which is what I'm going for.

LiEr points out that it's the snugness between the rows that hold the flowers and vegetables in place. I haven't made the flowers yet, so I tested the spacing with some random flowerlike objects. So far, so good. The next step is to finish up the box and start work on some stuff to plant.

Tune in next Friday for part 2 of "For Your Birthday, I Give You Dirt".