The evolution of the growth chart

When I was little, my parents marked my and my sister's heights on the back of a hall closet door.  Great idea, but if they ever moved (which they unbelievably haven't!!) they couldn't exactly take that door with them, could they?  Not really.  Writing heights on a door or wall or something didn't feel like the best idea for me.  So, I trolled the web and tried to see what was available for purchase (ha, like I would BUY something when I could potentially MAKE IT??) or some good ideas for a new creation.  And it came to me!  Here it is:

It is made of a board about 1'x5', wrapped in batting.  I machine appliqued the calla lilies and numbers on the front.  The ruler is ribbon that just so happens to be a ruler!  And though you can't see this so well in the photo, the small section to the right of the ruler is clear plastic, which is where I write my daughter's heights and the date.  I hang the growth chart 1 foot off of the ground, so actually the bottom of the chart is where the 1 is and the 2 is 12 inches up the chart, and so on.








After I made it, some of my friends saw it and loved it too!  So I made one for my friend Callie, who used to take the most incredible pictures of my little family when she was still in the Houston area. 

This is the one I made for her son!  His is also machine appliqued, except for the tree trunk.  I glued that down with Fabri-Tac and then glued brown ribbon along the edges to cover the fabric edges.  All that applique was getting to be a bit much!

So then another good friend got in on the fun...  Since her son, Owen, was (and still is) totally obsessed with the alphabet and numbers, I used his name to create his growth chart.  Let me tell you, this would not have happened if his name was Bartholomew or something!  Anyway, for this one, I created an animal figure that could be featured with each letter.  It is hard to see, but there is actually a brown O in the brown tree which is on the very top with the owl inside.  I added gold cording to get some contrast there!

This growth chart is made almost entirely out of felt, except the blue background, the water behind the whale, and the brown tree.  Every part of it is glued with Fabri-Tac!  That is the miracle glue!  This one went much faster with no applique, and I could get more detailed, like getting tiny spots on the newt and teeth and an eye on the whale!  Fun! 

 

When Callie (see above) had her second child, I made another chart for her daughter.  This one is also completely glued - horray!.  It is mostly fabric and ribbon.  I used the same blue background and green at the bottom as her brother's chart, and put the ruler on the opposite side in case they ended up hanging next to each other.

I feel like the growth charts got better and better as I went along!  They are a bit of work, but I think they were worth it!