October 11, 2012 by Cate

It’s a Cinch

The elsie marley Kids Clothes Week Challenge Fall 2012 is off and running (yikes, how did it get to be Thursday already?) and I am trying not to be discouraged by the fact that at this point in the Spring KCWC I already had four or five clothing items completed and so far … I have finished one item for the Fall challenge. Oh well, that’s the way it goes sometimes. Actually, that’s the way it goes a lot of times; especially in parenthood. In part this is due to the fact that my schedule has been victim to the “when it rains, it pours” effect. I have a lot of stuff going on right now — good stuff, which I’ll share soon — and I have been attempting to judiciously allot my time to the various projects while muzzling my usual over-achiever attitude of thinking I can fit all of it in and sacrificing sleep and sanity in the process.

I do have to ask, though, did I really need to have pre-school snack duty added to my list this week??! Ugh. It’s ironic though – when the snack “rules” were distributed during school orientation, I was a bit disappointed to see that homemade snacks were prohibited. I thought it would be so much fun to make healthy treats alongside my son, since he loves to help in the kitchen; and it just seemed like the obvious thing to do. But, Betty Crocker beware, homemade snacks have been outlawed by the food allergy police. Yesterday, however, with an ambitious to-do list in hand, I was more than accepting of the snack rules and gladly tossed a couple boxes of Teddy Grahams (of course, not the chocolate ones, people!) and jugs of apple juice in my cart and crossed that chore off my list. And I even remembered to bring them to school at drop-off time this morning, which is more than I can say about my son’s backpack on Tuesday morning. Sometimes I think pre-school is more about testing the parents’ organizational skills than it is about school preparedness for the children!

So, enough about that, it’s time for the big reveal….. What have I made so far for KCWC? A cinch-waist dress!

Presumably this dress is for my daughter. I intentionally sized-up when drafting the pattern so let’s hope it eventually fits her in all the right places at the same time. Ha! That did not happen with one of the first dresses I made for her. I made it before she was born in anticipation of her arrival, so I wasn’t working with actual measurements. I put it on her when she was about 3-months-old and quickly observed that the bodice probably was a good fit a month earlier and the arm length would be great in about another month — oops.

I haven’t sewn her anything lately and have been really eager to do so, but when I thought about this dress, I envisioned her running around and playing in it because the lightweight fabrics and bright colors seemed so fun and playful to me, but — slight complication — she’s not running anywhere just yet! That’s okay; the dress and the running are something to look forward to.

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The dress is essentially a peasant dress with an elasticized cinched waist and a ruffled layer added near the bottom for some extra pizzazz. The main, solid-colored fabric is Clementine from Michael Miller’s Cotton Couture collection. I love how cheery it is, and it made me realize how infrequently I use solid colors when I sew. I’m always drawn to the fun prints and overlook the beauty of solids. It convinced me that I need to change my solid-avoiding ways. The cinch fabric is from Patty Young’s Heaven & Helsinki collection for Michael Miller. Having spent my junior year of college abroad in Finland, it would be sacrilege for me to not own something from this collection (for the geographically-challenged crowd, yes, Helsinki is in Finland). I compensated by purchasing three of the prints, which actually required restraint because there are so many great coordinates in the collection. Finally, the ruffled piece was made using a voile from Anna Maria Horner‘s incredibly popular Little Folks collection. You really need to see this fabric without the ruffled effect to enjoy just how gorgeous it is; and it feels just as good as it looks. The whole collection is a-MA-zing. I have several prints and I can already tell I’ll have to fight the selfish tendency to hoard it away and save it for some as of yet undetermined special project.

The dress came together quite easily, which makes it so much more satisfying. Nothing like whipping up a dress in a short period of time! Oh honey, you need something to wear? Here you go. I made you a dress this afternoon. All you need to do is learn how to walk and run, and it can be yours.

Okay, back to to-do list conquering and, hopefully, some sewing. Hope your week is going well and you are crossing things off your lists, too!

October 1, 2012 by Cate

Up for a Challenge

I love seeing something I’ve created put to use — whether it be clothing, a pillow, curtains, place mats, whatever! I just get such a kick out of seeing what was once a cut of fabric transformed into something useful and, hopefully, appreciated. My son is a wonderful recipient of my handmade creations. Whenever I make him something, he gets so excited, fists raised cheerfully to the sky with a big “alright, Mommy! Thank you!” shouted for me — and then three seconds later he’s once again totally engrossed in playing trucks or whatever else I interrupted. I realize his reaction is based more on the fact that he knows I love sewing and making clothes for him and his sister, than it is organic excitement about the fact that I’ve made him another pair of pants, but I love it, and, at some level, need it.

Remember those elephant pants I posted about a couple months ago? Well, here they are in action. Okay, so maybe sitting and reading isn’t exactly action-packed excitement for most of us, but it’s pretty good stuff for an infant! What a cutie-pie! I think my cousin needs to make another trip to Connecticut some time soon so we can all see this little guy again.

And while I’m on the topic of sewing for kids ….. it’s almost time for Kids Clothes Week Challenge, created by elsie marley. Hurrah!

I participated in my first KCWC in the spring and had such a blast. I did all my prep work (washing, pressing, reviewing patterns, cutting pattern pieces, and even a little pinning) in advance so I could spend all of my KCWC time actually sewing and creating. I can already tell I won’t be that organized for the Fall KCWC, but I’m still so excited that it’s just about here. Not familiar with KCWC? The boiled down description is that for each day during the challenge you spend an hour (or more if your schedule allows and you’re so inspired) making clothes for kids. It’s free, and you participate in the comfort of your own space and at your own pace. A whole bunch of people participate and many share their results in a flikr group. There is an elsie marley KCWC FAQ page if you are interested and want more details. I love that the “challenge” is not a contest to see who makes the best/most/etc. but rather a personal challenge to commit one hour a day to creating clothes for kids. And at the end of the week, your kids will be better attired! No need to get all competitive — just get to work creating!

Here’s a smattering of what I created in the Spring 2012 KCWC (fyi, you can click to enlarge a photo). I really feel that my sewing skills were expanded and strengthened during KCWC.

The dress fabric is from Michael Miller and the pattern was my own. I used French seams for a finished look and used pieces of a hand-me-down maternity shirt to create the underskirt. I loved this fabric as soon as I saw it, and loved the dress when it was complete. It’s so great when that happens. The dress didn’t fit my daughter when I made it because I’d intentionally sized up so that it would fit during the summer. Of course, then I spent a number of weeks hoping she wouldn’t outgrow it before the warm weather arrived. It all worked out and it fit perfectly for her brother’s birthday party.

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The pants and shorts are all based in large part on MADE’s Kid Pants pattern, which is an extremely versatile pattern from a talented blogger (which is a really lame and limiting description, because Dana does about a million things well). The shorts ended up being one of my son’s favorite pairs this summer, without me steering him that way, which was so great. The pants were perfect for those occasions when I was hoping for a more dressed up look for my son — like a family gathering (linen pants) and my daughter’s christening (seersucker pants) — and paired easily with a polo shirt. I really loved the way the linen pants fit him; it’s too bad he has already outgrown them.

The peasant top below was actually the first piece I made for KCWC. The fabric is an organic cotton print and just seemed so perfect for a little girl. This item actually provided me with my first alteration experience a la chunky baby. The arms were a bit snug for my daughter so I ended up opening the armband casing, removing the elastic and leaving as-is. The sleeves looked just as cute that way, and I’m glad I didn’t spend too much time on alterations since she has outgrown the shirt already. That is the downside to sewing for little babies — they grow so fast you don’t have nearly enough time to enjoy the fruits of your labor!

The diaper cover was the only diaper cover I made during KCWC, although I had intended to make several. I don’t know, I guess I just kind of lost my steam and diaper covers didn’t seem so inspiring after all the other stuff. Definitely the right call. If I’m not jazzed about a project I feel like that shows in the end. You’ve got to put some love in to get a lovely result.

Remembering all that I did during the Spring KCWC makes me feel like I better get serious about my goals for Fall 2012 KCWC. Yikes. Time to make a list…

July 18, 2012 by Cate

Summer Skirts

Blue Skirt close up

Sewing (and, therefore, ironing) in the summer without air conditioning — not so fun. But light, bright summer skirts, now that is fun!

Lately the concept of napping has become a battleground with my toddler. He turns three next month and is eager to shed his afternoon nap in order to stay up and play. The problem is, he still desperately needs the nap and ends up in a heap of whining and crabbiness when he refuses nap time. It’s an ugly scene that puts the whole family on edge, and unfortunately the scene has been on replay too frequently as of late. He actually napped a couple times over the past few days, and even more miraculously, his nap time aligned with the baby’s. So, despite the heat, I was able to catch some sewing time to help restore my sanity. There’s nothing like sewing away at the machine with the feeling of sweat running down your chest. (Sorry for planting that image in your head.)

Easy skirts just seemed like the way to go. A quick project, fun prints and a little something that dresses up a plain onesie for the baby. And the project was made even easier with the use of Dritz colored elastic, which brought extra color to the skirt and eliminated the need for an elastic casing. I had never sewn fabric directly to elastic before, so it took a little adjustment. Since I was stretching the elastic (both in front and in back of the needle) as I was stitching it to the skirt body, I found that I would end up with little “hiccups” each time I moved my hands to stretch a new section. (You can see what I mean in the picture at the top.) Not a critical flaw, but also not a nice, clean straight line of stitches. Nothing I can’t overcome with more practice, hopefully. For the meantime, matching my thread color as closely as possible to the elastic color helps minimize the distraction.

I started with a circle skirt using the great little baby circle skirt tutorial from Dana’s MADE site.

Seersucker Circle Skirt front

I purchased the multi-color seersucker fabric at Joann’s last summer, when I was pregnant, in anticipation of making something summery and girly for the baby this year. It worked especially well for the circle skirt since it was so light. It seems to give the skirt even more bounce.

Seersucker Circle Skirt Close I simply serged the bottom of the skirt but didn’t bother to hem it. The casual look fit the fabric.

Seersucker Circle Skirt side

Just like Dana warns, this project is easy and fun, and you’ll find you want to keep making more and more circle skirts after you try it.

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See what I mean? I forced myself to stop at two — for now. I drew from my stash of Amy Butler fabric for this one.

Orange Circle Skirt

For the second circle skirt, I took the extra step of hemming the skirt after serging, for a cleaner, finished look. I think this will be the perfect skirt for the baby to wear to a family get-together this weekend to meet my cousin’s new baby boy!

I was clearly in a yellow-orange mood when making the circle skirts! Does that happen to you? Sometimes I go shopping for fabric or clothes and don’t realize until the end of the trip that most of my purchases are in the same color family.

I indulged in one more skirt. And another Amy Butler print.

Blue Skirt on Blanket

This one is a simple gathered waist skirt, using two rectangles to form the front and back. Stitch up the sides, gather the waist, sew the waist to the elastic, stitch the hem, done.

Blue Skirt Above

Slap one of these skirts on over a onesie and baby looks colorfully cute while staying cool in the summer heat.