Monday, April 29, 2013

KCW Days 4-6 and a 1/2

Day 4 of KCW, I sewed up a pair of Mr. Two-Faced Pants from the book, 'Sewing For Boys.'
I used the size 6 months in width and the size 12 months in length.
 
 
The white fabric is from a pillow that I had unstuffed for this project.
And, the car fabric is from the Fat Quarter Shop--City Centre by Marie Perkins for Robert Kaufman that I had bought a while ago.

 
I fussy cut one of the cars to applique on the pant leg and hand embroidered some puffs of exhaust coming out the back.

 
I still need some bright orange buttons to finish off the back pockets but I had none that matched. I'll have to go get some soon...
 
Then, on Day 5, I sewed up two Tricorn Seafarers Hats from the book, 'Fabric by Fabric: One Yard Wonders.'
Again, this project is from Becka Rahn--same as the knight costumes I sewed up a while back. The fabric is actually left over from those same knight costumes.

 
First time I played with rick-rack and I really like the quick and easy results!
I left them on the couch so they'd find them in the morning. And, they did not fail me in their excitement--the oldest came into my room at 6.30 wearing his.
Now, they have their 'captain' hats as they like to call them.


On Day 6, I sewed up a Chef's hat from Ottobre 1/2013.
I think she's pretty happy:

 
The fabric is just white broadcloth I still had laying around from the capes I made for the boys.
I hand embroidered the design on and also my daughter's name--in pink as requested. She would have liked to have the whole hat in pink.
I finished this hat up quickly this morning--hence the 1/2 day.

 
And, here is the ship's crew,
Captain, Cook, and Look-out:

 
I hope you've enjoyed KCW--I have!
 

 
 
 

KCW Days 1-3

The first day of KCW I spent mostly tracing some patterns and I whipped up a jersey headband for my daughter.

 
 
The tutorial for this headband came from here and the fabric I used was left-over from the infinity scarf I had made, from Girl Charlee fabric.
 
The rest of day 1 and days 2 and 3 were spent sewing up a swimsuit for my daughter. I used the Tankini/Skirtini (#3023) pattern from Jalie Patterns

 
The fabric I used for this was bought some time ago--like over a year. I had used it previously to make the same tankini for my daughter but a size smaller.
 
 
This time, I left off the shelf bra and elastic that went in the top...it just made it harder to put on and take off. Plus it was not necessary for a toddler.
 
 
So...that was my sewing for days 1-3 of KCW. What have you sewn?

 
 
 

Friday, April 26, 2013

KCW 2013

I am sewing for KCW again.
I know...I have not posted a thing that I finished.
But, I did finish a number of things--just waiting until I have a bit more time to actually make a nice post, or two, or three.
Until then, have fun the last couple of days of KCW...tomorrow is my last as I don't sew on Sundays, generally.
We'll see what I sew up tomorrow, if I get a chance!
 

 
 

Monday, April 15, 2013

Another London Pants

My kids are growing faster than I can keep up with--especially in the area of pants. They seem to wear out so fast! Thankfully spring is a little slow in coming here--I have to finish up some spring sewing.
But, I have one out of the way--last week already but I'm a little slow in posting and have done no sewing since--nothing.
I have to get going!
 
But, here is the newest pair of London Pants--a pattern from Petite Kids Boutique:
 
 
I made a size 6 and instead of adding the tabs to turn it up and lining the bottom inside with the lining fabric, I cut the actual pieces longer and hemmed them with a good sized hem. That way I can take it out if he stays as skinny as he is next year.
As you can see, he should be able to wear that shirt next year too. And, maybe the year after... Yes, I know it's a bit big on him--I may have to go and check out the 2nd hand store to find another one, but until I do, he'll be wearing this.

 
Instead of the contrasting flap on the back, I added some self-drafted pockets.

 
And, these pants have now been dubbed, 'My new sailing pants!' All because of those anchor buttons on the side pockets. I thought they'd be a hit, but now he says he'll be sailing every Sunday at Church.

 
The fabrics I used are a chocolate colored linen from Fabric.com that I bought a number of years ago.
The lining gecko fabric is Meadow Friends by Deb Strain for Moda fabric from the Fat Quarter Shop that I bought quite a while ago as well.
The tag is a piece of twill tape that I wrote on with fabric markers.

 
Oh, and that tab of lining fabric on the leg? My son requested that he have some of the lining fabric on the outside so he could see it while sitting in the van on the way to Church.
 
 
And, he is not a very willing model. Hence the lack of pictures with it on him.
 
I'll probably make quite a few more of these as the kids grow out of or wear out of other pants!
 
 

Friday, April 5, 2013

The Anywhere Dress

My children have a habit of climbing in their closet to get to the higher shelves. Unfortunately, the shelving brackets were not drilled into a stud but just the drywall. Needless to say, the shelf finally gave way. The bottom shelf fell...again. But, this time there was no climbing being done, no pulling or digging being done. It just fell while no one was in there.
So, my dear husband took it all down and drilled the brackets to the studs.
Now I have a very sturdy shelf unit in there, and the kids have been warned that they must NOT climb on the shelves to get their clothes.
 
But, all their clothes had to be removed and I used the opportunity to go through their clothes and see what was too small or too stained or torn to be used anymore.
They all need some new spring clothes.
 
So, when Andrea from Go-To Patterns emailed me with her Anywhere DressI could not resist testing it.
 
I added an inch to the pattern's length to make it a bit longer for my little girl. I like keeping their bums covered when they play in a not-so-modest fashion!
 
 
I thought it was still a bit short so I added a layer of contrasting fabric to the bottom. Next time I'll just add 3 inches or so to the pattern before I cut!
 
 
She's pretty thrilled.
When I asked her to smile for the picture this is what I got--a smirk:
 
 
'Can you open your eyes while you smile?'
And, she points to her eyes, 'these my eyes.'
'Yes, those are your eyes my dear, can you open them?'
Sigh....
 
 
It's a basic pattern but it's so nice to just cut around a pattern piece and not have to figure out how much length or width I'll need to make it a dress.
I really like the cap sleeves with the little ribbed edges.

 
 And, the facing makes it easy to add a quick 'tag' in the back to differentiate between the front and back for little minds.

 
The fabric I used for the main part of the dress is from Girl Charlee. It's their retro botanical jersey knit. It is so soft and pretty! (They still have some left!) I think I'm going to have to really stash up with their fabrics one of these days!
And, the ribbing is from Fabric.com. It's a baby ribbed sweater knit in turquoise that I bought a couple of years back, I believe. Quite soft as well and super stretchy.
Anyway, that is part one of a who-knows-how-many-part series on spring clothes for the kids.

 
If you want to buy this pattern for yourself, visit Go-To Patterns or buy the actual pattern here: Anywhere Dress
Use the code ANYWHERE to get $1 off thru Monday the 8th!