"Design on a Dime" Wannabe

I'm a big fan of the HGTV show Design on a Dime. The designers have a budget of $1,000 to make over a room or something, and they always end up doing something that looks great but stays within budget by just whipping together a few pieces of furniture or light fixtures--you know, stuff any average Joe could do (not!). Well, for Christmas we got Nathan and Luke each a "Crusader" set of plastic armor, which all the boys have loved. In fact, the armor has been TOO well-loved, and the breastpieces have cracked in half due to being stepped on. So I came up with the bright idea of making some armor out of some sort of fabric so it would stand up to typical battle abuse here in the house. We trotted off to Joann's Fabrics last week to see what we could come up with. We went all through the store, and I though I was going to have to go with plain black vinyl because I just didn't see anything else that would be sturdy enough or looked enough like armor. But I couldn't figure out how I could attach straps to the vinyl. We wandered over to the upholstery part as I looked for some kind of tack or something. Then I spotted it--a roll of upholstery fabric that was black underneath but had silver intertwined all over it. Picture something used to cover seats in cars maybe 10 or 15 years ago--that sort of a design. It looked exactly like chain mail! I was quite excited, and it was only $6.96 a yard. When the lady cut a yard and then unfolded the fabric, she realized that there was actually a big piece missing from the other half, but there wasn't enough left to just cut a second yard. So she asked me if I could still use what she had cut, and she said she would give me a big discount. Of course I said sure! She gave me 50% off! I spent Friday cutting the material into 4 breastplate-like shapes and sewing elastic to make little armholes. Hmm, it's hard to explain. It looks sort of like an apron with thicker shoulder straps and elastic under the arms so it stays on. Anyhow, it does look like armor, and the boys are so happy! So I made 4 breastplates, and it cost less than $5.00 (counting the elastic). Success--I AM a successful "Design on a Dime" graduate!

Caleb in particular is going through a real "King Arthur" phase. By that I mean he IS King Arthur. We have one book called "Tales of King Arthur" which I picked up off a Barnes and Noble bargain books table awhile ago. He has paged through that so many times, and now everything is referenced back to that book.

Me: "Time to take a bath, Caleb."

Caleb: "King Arthur doesn't take baths, Mom."

Me: "Yes, he did."

Caleb: "No, there are no pictures of him taking a bath in the King Arthur book."

Me: "Well, when his mom told him to take a bath, then he took a bath!"

It's not that Caleb doesn't like baths, he just can't do anything that King Arthur wouldn't do (since he IS king Arthur). The book shows Arthur wearing a cape, so Caleb ties a red bandana around his neck for that. Arthur always wears boots, so Caleb wears his cowboy boots. With his armor on and carrying his shield and sword, the picture is really one of a "cowboy" King Arthur. I guess my next trip to Joann's will be to look for material suitable for a kingly cape (on a budget of only $4.00 or less--just kidding!).