Friday, June 29, 2012

Henry Shirt

So, I finished it. Actually, it'd be more honest to say that I finally started and finished it. Yes, I procrastinated until I realized that it was almost the end of June. Time goes by so fast!
But, without further ado, I present to you, the Henry Shirt:


It was a lot of fun to sew--first time I did a collared shirt, and first time I actually made a button up shirt. And, the yoke was pretty neat as well. (I had wondered while cutting the pattern pieces why the sleeve pieces were so big, and then wondered what is a yoke?! Ha, yes it was a learning experience for me!) The fabrics are: the grey: a repurposed pillowcase that is a mix of cotton and polyester, and the white: a cotton from Walmart.


The front has snaps instead of buttons. I was tempted to add buttons instead, but I wanted to be done and button holes can take so long. So, I went with what the book (Sewing for Boys) suggested: snaps. You can see the inside yoke as well--I was pretty happy with it, considering it was a first-time attempt. I did have to seam rip a bunch at one point because I realized that I had sewn the side pieces to the wrong side of the front pieces. Too much of a hurry I suppose. And, I had to really think, what is the bottom of the collar as I had never made a collar before.


The box pleat on the back adds a good little detail.
There is one thing I would definitely change if I were to make it again. I would buy a lighter weight interfacing. I used one that is actually a bit too heavy and you can tell with the collar. Next time better!


And, I'm linking up to Boy Oh Boy Oh Boy Crafts with their Sew-along!

Sewing For Boys Sew Along


Saturday, June 16, 2012

Twin Rag Blanket(s)

I spent the past couple of days, first cutting these:


And turning them into this:


It's the fifth large rag blanket that I've done. One (the first one) was a gift for my Mother-in-law as a thank-you/birthday gift. And, I'd have to go through my hard-copy pictures to find that one back as I didn't have a fancy digital camera back then!
So, here are the four I've made for my kids:


The two oldest boys:


My daughter and then my baby boy:


A close-up of each so you can see the lovely fabric I've used in them all:

(Two Michael Miller Prints and the brown is an AE Nathan)

 (Two Flitter Flannel Prints and the brown is a Flannel Quilt Backing in Chocolate)

(A Cozy Woven Plaid Earth/Red, Moda Bliss Flannel and the same brown as above)

(A Comfy Flannel Bear Paw Prints, Molly & Molly Cuddle Flannel Plaid Pear and again the same brown as above)

All the fabric is from Fabric.com. They weren't selling the Flannel Quilt Backing anymore this time, so I had to go with the AE Nathan. It was more expensive unfortunately, but I wanted them to be somewhat matching. And, the Michael Miller fabric was Oh-So-Soft!!! It was so nice to sew with it and it got so nice and raggy in the first wash already!
I used 2 yards of 108" wide brown fabric, 2 yards of each of the other prints which were 44"/45" wide. After cutting them into 7" squares, I sewed them together in rows with 1/2" seam allowance. I needed 72 double layered brown squares and 30 double layered of the others to make it 11x12 squares. After stitching around the outside of the blanket as well, I started to snip the seam allowances up to the seams. Wash, dry, and presto! So quick and easy--just make sure you have a pair of scissors with a spring--it saves your hand!
I know--my baby can't use his yet. It's hanging on his crib. But, it was a good excuse to order some more fabric (I ordered a bunch of knit fabrics as well!!!).




Thursday, June 7, 2012

Almost Summer Skirt

I recently found this double sheet at the second hand store for $4.99:


It's a lovely summery color perfect for a skirt, so I made a skirt.

It's basically a straight skirt with pockets and a thin waistband. I even added a zipper! It's supposed to be invisible, but this is the first time I tried an invisible zipper. The zipper was repurposed from the dress I had bought at Value Village--the one I made this dress out of.  

See, the zipper is not perfect but it does the job!

The bottom detailing, I basically took 4 lengths of elastic, stretched them as I sewed them in and, voila!


All for less than five dollars!
I may end up making some more modifications as and if I feel like it. I had these grand ideas of adding fabric flowers, but I think they may be too heavy and it may detract from the skirt as it is. What do you think?






Richard Scarry and Sail Boats

My oldest son received this book some time ago--I think for either his last birthday or the one before that. It is one of his favourites.


Lately he has been looking at this page--the woodworking page:

 


 He loved the sailboat and was asking us to help him make one. So, finally after we had bought a jigsaw we cut some wood into a rough boat shapes (the others decided they wanted one as well, so we made three), drilled a hole in each, and glued in a mast. To attach the horizontal mast 'beam,' we nailed the larger one and tied the smaller ones to it, reinforcing with Elmer's Glue All, I believe the name is.
This morning, I cut out some triangles from fabric, zigzag stitched the edges and folded it over once each to make the edges stronger. I inserted a grommet on each point of the triangle and tied the sails to the masts with string. Don't you think the fabric looks kind of nautical?

 


There is the finished product: 3 rough but usable sail boats.


And, they float--we gave them a test run in the bathtub this morning. Ha, the kids were ready to join them in the bathtub, except I used cold water!


Yes, my second child is wearing a matching shirt. He saw me working with that fabric this morning and he promptly went to his closet and chose that shirt to wear for today.
Wonder what will be made next!