The Hasty Binky Clip

I have a 5-month-old. He's completely adorable and no, you can't borrow him. But he does have this habit of taking the binky/soothie/paccie/pacifier/what-have-you and calming down, then spitting it out when he's done. This leads to one of two reactions on my part.

1. Great! He's not dependent on it!

2. Great. Now I have to wash the dang thing again, since it is now bouncing around the doctor's office floor/the store floor/the parking lot.

I happened to be at Hobby Lobby when this happened for the LAST. DANG. TIME. so I opted to pick up a pack of mitten clips and make something useful.

**Other handy things to know about me: The 5-month-old (Drools-in-Happiness) is not alone. He has two sisters, 6-year-old Persistence and 4-year-old Enthusiasm. And we homeschool. Calm and ordered my life is not.**

We were running out the door that night when the perfect Hasty Craft dawned on me--I could hand-sew a binky clip as we drove! So I grabbed the clips, ribbon from my stash, a small elastic, and my sewing kit (home to random bits and bobs like thread from other projects, needles, pins, and tailor's chalk. TAILOR'S CHALK. I use that when?)

I had the clip nearly finished when we got to the library, and by the time we got to the next stop on our list--Braum's!--I was done. I slipped it on the boy's binky, clipped it to his drool bib, and we proceeded inside. I did the ordering while The Hub wrangled the children into a booth.

When I came back, The Hub held up the clip. "It's too long. It could wrap around his neck." Oops. BIG oops. This is not my first child. This is not my first craft. I know better.
*sigh*
Lesson re-learned: Measure twice, cut once.

We came home and I rethought my Hasty Craft. This is what the binky clip looked like in its original form:



Don't let my photography skillz (read: lack thereof) fool you--that's satin ribbon. If I do this again, I'm using grosgrain. Also, my hand-sewing needs practice. Lots and lots of practice. I make Dr. Frankenstein's handiwork look refined. Anyway....

Being my own special brand of lazy, and nursing Drools-in-Happiness at the time, I decided to play around with the ribbon. Half the length was still too long, but one third of the length was perfect. So I folded it in thirds, found some awesome perle cotton in my sewing kit that actually MATCHED the ribbon, and hand-bound the edges. Sturdier and prettier! Repenting at leisure accomplished.

At one point The Hub looked over and said, "Wouldn't it be easier to cut the ribbon and resew a new loop around the clip?" Sure it would. And it would look nicer if I dug out the sewing machine instead of doing it by hand. But here we are.


It even has a super-secret pocket for the boy to hide more drool in! More importantly, hazard eliminated and clip created. The End.