June 2018

I'm late with June's update, primarily because I'm in a packing frenzy.  The movers come in a week and a half and I'm just a wee bit stressed out.  I'm closing up the sewing shop today so there won't be any more sewing for at least a couple months - that hasn't stopped me from buying a bit of fabric in July though.  

Without further ado, here's what I got up to last month:

PROJECTS COMPLETED

Layette in Blue

My kids acquired another cousin in early January.  Due to illnesses (particularly the flu, which downed all four children like dominos over a two-week period), we just managed to go for a visit this past weekend.

Sewing for Kids: Yes, I still do!

Although this blog has become much more about my sewing for myself in the past year, I do still sew for my children.  I tend to stick to easy (and comfortable) knits, and I generally sew for them in huge batches over the course of a couple of weeks, two or three times per year.

I'm gathering up a bunch of the pieces I've made recently and dumping them all in this post.  It is going to be long, so bear with me.

I found this fall that Natasha (who is now 8), needed some fall/winter dresses.  And when you sew for one girl around here, you kind of have to sew for the other one, so 7-year-old Z was getting a new dress, too.

My intent was to make very simple jersey dresses that were roughly knee length.  But I sewed Natasha's out of a very unstable knit (probably poly and/or rayon with some lycra, though FabricMart listed it as a cotton/lycra), and the weight of the skirt pulled the bodice down much more than I had anticipated. She begged me to leave it long, and now she swishes around in what she calls her "simple dress," pretending to be a 19th century prairie girl.

I used the School Bus T-shirt pattern from Oliver+S for both dresses, in a slimmed-down size 5 for Natasha, and a straight 5 for Z.  Then I cut long width-of-fabric rectangles for the skirts and gathered them up, then stabilized the waist seam with knit interfacing before sewing them together.

Of course, after I made Natasha's dress, Zoia decided that hers also needed to be ankle length.  It's sewn out of a less drapey cotton interlock with a cotton/lycra jersey scrap for the neckband.  It turned out a little nightgown-esque because the interlock has less drape than the jersey, but she loves it.

The School Bus pattern has gotten a workout here lately.  I used it to make cotton interlock nightgowns for my daughters and oldest niece (hers is not pictured, but it's a tank version of the same nightgown).  These are constructed just like the dresses, but with an added ruffle at bottom.

As my kids have grown, my ability to use up small scraps for their clothing has decreased.  When the boys needed new pjs, I tried to use up most of remaining knit scraps.

I made these pjs out of a red and blue stripe cotton interlock I found at the thrift store last year.  The body of Niko's shirt is a cotton rib knit that's been hanging out in my stash for awhile.  The pants are Oliver+S Playtime Leggings - definitely my most-used pattern ever - in a size 4T + some length for Gabriel and size 2 for Niko.  I added a cuff on the larger pair to make them even longer.  Neckbands are cotton/lycra jersey scraps.  G's top is the School Bus T-shirt, and Niko's is the O+S Field Trip Raglan.

The second set is made from the same patterns (both shirts are Field Trip Raglans this time) and all cotton/lycra jersey except for Niko's pants, which took out the rest of the navy rib knit.

This set, for Gabriel, is another School Bus + Playtime and is made out of striped interlock and a really nice and thick brown cotton/lycra jersey, purchased years ago from Fabric Mart.

Natasha also needed some pants, so I made two more pairs of Playtime Leggings for her.  These are a size 4 with the length of an 8.  Next time I'm going to make the 5 plus length for her.  The gray ones are French terry with cotton/lycra jersey knee patches, and the black are cotton/lycra jersey.

Last, I wanted to use up the less-than-a-yard of this flannel from Joann's that I used on my Bonn No. 5.  I also didn't want to buy a new pattern.  So I flipped through my one issue of Ottobre Design (Winter 6/2015), and found the Tiny Pussy Bow blouse, #21.  I traced it out in a size 110 with the armhole height of a 128 and the length of the 134.  I left off the pussy bow and just bound the neckline.  I wanted a bit of extra length so I added a ruffle at bottom.  I had so little fabric left that I had to piece that ruffle in five sections.  N loves the shirt and I feel good, having used up every scrap of fabric.

This pattern only has five pieces, which makes the tracing more tolerable.  The instructions were fine, and it went together quickly.  My only quibble is that the yoke is a single layer.  I didn't cut it on the bias because I was afraid it would distort without a facing.  But in this thick fabric, cut on grain, it works fine.  The pattern has a tiny bit of gathering at the front shoulder, which is hard to see in this fabric.  The back is supposed to be gathered too, but I decided to do an inverted pleat instead.  I'm very happy with this make.

There are a few other recent makes that I didn't manage to get pictures of - another pair of pjs and two pairs of leggings for Z and another School Bus dress for N.  Coming up for the end of the year, I will have my end-of-year sewing review and some Top 5 posts that I'm looking forward to sharing with you.

Thanks for reading, and see you next time!

Summer nightie

This fabric, a crinkly cotton gauze bought on sale.  I was indifferent to it when it arrived.  I used it last fall for my Josephine, feeling meh about it as I sewed.  And then once the blouse was done, I del l in love with the fabric and wished I had more of it.

Then my sister asked me to sew a summer nightgown for my niece.  She had outgrown the one I sewed her three years ago.  I had just enough of the gauze left for the job.  Again I was ambivalent.  I thought, this will use up the cut and it is the perfect weight for a summer nightgown.  So off I went.

Once again, I fell in love with the fabric.  Which is serendipitous given that FabricMart just got more in.  I'm thinking of ordering another couple of yards.

The pattern is Kwik Sew 3423, which I sewed before here and here. I made a size 4 (my niece actually wears a 5 or a 6 but the pattern is roomy).  I made a couple of adjustments.  First, the pattern calls for 1/4" seam allowances which I don't like - little girls tend to jump around and put pressure on the bodice/skirt seam.  Several of the other nightgowns I made using this pattern ended up with holes there.  So now I alter the pattern pieces to allow for a 1/2" seam allowance there.  I sewed the seam with my sewing machine, then serged the edges without trimming for a second line of stitching.

The pattern calls for finishing the neckline and the armholes with lace edging which is zig-zagged to the raw edge to prevent raveling.  I finished the neckline with invisible bias instead.

My final issue with the pattern has to do with the button placket on the back.  The pattern calls for folding the placket over and then applying interfacing to the edge.  The raw edge of the fabric+interfacing is then just left raw.  I finished it with my serger but in the future I think I'll add 1/4" to either side so that I can fold the raw edges under and topstitch.  I don't know why they don't do that in the pattern.

Z agreed to model her cousin's nightie for me before we gave it away.  Her cousin is just a tiny bit shorter than she is.  If i had had more fabric I would have lengthened it a bit, but I figure it will fit this year and next.

In defense of the stash

I do not consider my stash huge - in its entirety, it fits into four plastic tubs.  At some point I'd like a more display-able stash storage system, but for now this will have to do.  The downside of my system, as many of you know, is that out-of-sight fabric is often out-of-mind as well.  So I started keeping a running list of all the cuts I buy, along with the date purchased and the price paid, in a draft file in my email.  (A quick tally before writing this post found that I currently have roughly 130 yards of fabric!  It is a lot when you look at it in numbers.)

My stash tally has proven to be very useful.  A quick glance at it before hitting "place order" on a cart full of goodies often is enough to pare down my purchase, or cancel it altogether.  It's also handy when I am thinking about a potential project and whether I have anything suitable on hand.  And most useful, I have found that tracking my purchases (and deleting them from the list after they have been used) has allowed me to see what I use quickly and what tends to collect dust in the stash tubs.

What I have found is that cotton knits (especially those with lycra content) don't last long at all in the stash.  I guess I like sewing knits even more than I thought I did.  Wovens, however, linger on and on when I am not doing much sewing for myself.  I have a number of larger shirting cuts that are earmarked for projects for myself, and once I drop a few more pounds, I hope to use those for some new Lisette Traveler shirts and tunics.  When I'm not sewing for myself, I tend to sew wovens for the kids mostly during the warmer months. Basically I should not buy any more woven fabrics, but I can pretty much always justify purchases of knits.

I was very happy earlier this week to have a stash.  Natasha is in her ballet school's performance of the Nutcracker this week (dress rehearsal is tonight!) and she needed a robe to wear backstage.  I hit up some brick and mortar retailers looking for one, but there were no little girls' robes to be found.  Everything online was more than I wanted to spend, so finally I gave up and decided to sew one.  I used the free Sleepy Robe pattern from Melly Sews, and found a yard of this drapey cotton rib knit in my stash.  I didn't love this fabric at the time of purchase - and I would not have bought the fabric if it had not been 100% cotton and only $2.97 a yard - but now I am glad I did because nothing else I had stashed away would have worked as well.

The pattern comes in four sizes.  I sewed the 5/6, which as you can see, is really roomy.  Natasha is skinny but I would say that the 5/6 fits more like a 7/8 - the sleeves are much too long too.  But it was a quick and satisfying sew.  And it's cozy and will do the job, and should fit for another two years, so that's something.

This is also a case where I like the fabric sewn up so much more than I liked it on the bolt.  I love the play of the stripes cut in both directions.  I should have bought more of it ...

KCW - Baby sleep sacks

Before Niko, I did not have much use for those-elastic bottomed sleep sacks.   I always heard them touted as the most convenient option for babies who still needed to be changed at night.  But I preferred footed sleepers - maybe because none of the others required middle-of-the-night diaper changes for very long.  Or, and this is more likely, it was because my husband always did the changing.  

At five months old, Niko still requires an overnight change after one of his feedings or he will wake up soaked in the morning.  And now that I do all the night-time changes all myself, I have found that I have zero patience for wrangling cranky baby legs into footed pajamas at 3 a.m.  The elasticated sleep sacks (which I layer underneath a zippered fleece sleeping bag now that it has gotten colder) really are much more convenient in the wee hours of the morning.  But we only had two, and both were very nearly outgrown.

Since I already had Growing Up Sew Liberated, I used the sleep sack pattern from the book.  I was a little leery of using another pattern from that book after the dramatic failure of the basic pocket pant, but then I remembered that I had previously made the book's envelope tee and sleeping john patterns and they were fine (and in fact, Gabriel is still wearing them, though the tee is nearly cropped on him now).

I made two sacks.  The first in a buffalo plaid double-faced cotton knit from Fabric Mart.  It is a lovely heavy weight for cool nights.  The reverse side is a natural-colored rib knit.  I used that side to make a quick wonky star appliqué for the front.

I love the combination of plaid and knit - as far as I'm concerned, its one you don't see often enough!  For the neckbands, I used some black ribbing from my stash.  I would have preferred a bright color for the ribbing but I only had black, white and brown on hand.  (Inder and Rachel both recently blogged about their favorite sources for colorful ribbing and now I am itching to buy a whole rainbow of it to have on hand.)

I made the 6-12 month size for my stalwartly 50th percentile-in-height nearly 5-month-old in hopes that they would last us through winter.  After I cut out the plaid sack and basted the shoulders together, I laid it out next to the baby.  It seemed quite short - one kick and his feet would stick right out.  Ugh, I was annoyed.  I should have measured him before cutting, but really, he is of average height for a 5-month-old, so the 6-12 month size should have been plenty long enough!

Grumbling all the way at the whack sizing of the pattern, I cut two more 5" wide strips of fabric to attach to the bottom, matching the plaid ok vertically but not really horizontally, and then made the elastic casing as directed.  I didn't hem the sleeves, but just serged the raw edges and turned them up to leave plenty of room for growth.

I made a second out of some lovely medium-weight red cotton/lycra (also from Fabric Mart) that I now wish I had bought more of.  It is a great weight for a sleep sack - and I have enough left for a pair of leggings for Natasha.

I used some Laguna jersey in aqua for the neckbands, which I cut narrower for this version.  I think the proportions are a little better this way.

He has now worn both sacks to sleep and his feet have remained fully covered!  Plus he looks adorable. 

I won't be doing this KCW as doggedly as I usually do - I did not manage to get to the machine today - but I hope to turn out one or two more items before the end of the week.  My mother-in-law is visiting, so I am optimistic!

Booties, blankets and bras, oh my!

Sunday night, I had the panicky realization that there was exactly one pair of baby socks in the house.  It's kind of silly - I mean, it's been 80 degrees here the past week and tomorrow the temperature is supposed to soar to 90 and steamy.  I don't realistically think we're going to have much use for socks.  But all I could think of was Oh-my-gosh-this-baby-could-come-at-any-time-and-his/her-feet-are-going-to-freeze!  

So I did what any sane pregnant woman with a sewing habit would do.  I got out of bed, went down to the sewing cave with my one pair of hand-me-down baby socks and made a quick pattern from it.  Then I sorted through my knit scraps (because you need, like, no fabric to make these) and assembly lined them out.

They aren't perfect - they have this sort of weird ducky-foot shape.  I don't love the seam up the back of the cuff.  I initially tried to attach the cuff differently first by sewing it into a circle and then seaming that to the top of the sock.  Trust me when I say that was way too fiddly for 1 a.m. and possibly for any time.  These cuffs are only 3.5" in circumference!  You might notice that the navy polka-dotted pair has two different cuffs.  I sewed one of them right sides together by accident - again, 1 a.m.  By the time I noticed it, everything was serged together and I wasn't about to unpick that seam.  1 a.m.

And yes, one of those pairs is pink.  I found the pink polka-dotted scrap and couldn't resist making them.  Mama intuition about the gender? I guess we'll see.

This weekend I also made a swaddle blanket out of the same double gauze I used for this Lullaby Layette set.



I cut the blanket 48" square and finished the edges with a narrow hem.

I made a quick wonky star appliqué using the reverse side of the gauze.

It's very soft and light.

Finally, I made two more pieces of nursing sleepwear from the Sweet Blossom Lingerie pattern - a gown and a camisole.  I shortened the straps on the gown, thinking that would add more support, but honestly it just makes my back hurt a little bit to wear it.  Not the best move.  I made the camisole using a yard of cotton/lycra jersey I bought a couple of years ago and then had no idea what to do with.  I fully lined the backs of the garments and partially lined the fronts. 

I got to use some of my eBay lingerie elastic.

The garments are definitely prettier this way but I'm finding the elastic a little scratchy against my arms.

Summer nighties

I love sewing nightgowns for my girls.  My sister and I had a lot of handmade nighties thanks to my grandmother, and I have fond memories of floaty, ruffly summer ones and snuggly flannels for winter.  I'm happy to be able to provide the same for my daughters.

I made these using Kwik Sew 3423, which includes toddler sizes up to size 4.  There used to be a version for older girls, Kwik Sew 3105, but sadly it appears to be out of print.  The toddler version is quite roomy, though - I cut a 2 with added length for both girls - so I think it will do for us for a few more years.

The pattern isn't the most elegant I've used, construction-wise.  The instructions for attaching the lace leave a messy-ish inside, and only 1/4" seam allowances are included.  Since the nightgowns are so long, the girls sometimes step on them, putting pressure on the seam joining the bodice to the skirt.  With delicate voiles or shreddy flannels, this is a problem.  I had to fix holes where the seam shredded apart on the girls' flannel nightgowns multiple times.  I prefer a 3/8" or 1/2" allowance for this pattern, so I can sew a seam on my machine and then serge the edges together without trimming.  More room for error.



I used a floaty voile that I got from FabricMart awhile ago for only $1.99 a yard, and two yards made two nightgowns.  Score!  I really love this fabric - it has plaid, flowers and some sparkly Lurex threads running through it.  What more could a girl ask for?  I trimmed the arms with bias tape rather than lace so that they would not be scratchy against the skin, but I did use lace to trim the neckline.  The girls are thrilled.

These nightgowns were actually sewn weeks ago; currently my sewing room is all packed up.  We are moving in a couple weeks and our stuff won't catch up until August at the earliest.  Most likely there will be no sewing until mid-September! So posting will be sporadic until then.

KCW Day 4

So, as predicted, I spent all of day 3 in bed feeling utterly queasy and as though someone had run me over with a truck.  There was no thought of sewing.  Yesterday I woke up feeling much better, but the thought of returning to the Izzy Top, which I had blogged about while nauseated, made me feel nauseated again.  Does that happen to you?  The thing that you eat, or watch, or do, while nauseated, nauseates you when you do it again later?  This happened to me with knitting, of all things, during my pregnancy with my second daughter - I was not able to knit again for months after the morning sickness passed.

Anyway, thankfully, I had another project cut out and waiting to be sewn - a cotton interlock sleep sack for my son for the spring and summer.  I used Kwik Sew 3809, which I used last fall to make a couple of fleece sacks.  It's a sleep sack pattern, folks.  There really isn't much to say about it, except I appreciate that Kwik Sew uses a thicker, sturdier paper for their patterns than other companies (*coughcoughSimplicitycoughcough*).  The sleeveless variation, which is the only one I have made, is super-quick to sew up.

 
I bought the material at Land of Oh while pregnant with my son, intending to sew up some tiny baby sleep-n-plays, but it never happened.  I figured I'd better use it up now, as the print, while totally adorable, is a little on the juvenile side.  Also, I never noticed until now, that the hot-air balloons say "Basic Elle" on them.  Land of Oh is in South Korea so I'm guessing this fabric is of Asian origin.  I have seen other fabrics from Asia (like some Kokka prints) with strange words on them.  That roll of label twill-tape that I got (also from Land of Oh) and used on my recent Class Picnics, has some labels on it that say "Sunbonnet" instead of "Handmade."  ?



What looks like pill on the picture above is actually just graininess - the fabric is lovely and smooth.

Actually, Land of Oh knits seem to be a really nice quality so even though they are quite pricey, I think I will order from them again.  I have been let down by the vast majority of my reasonably-priced purchases from a very popular Stateside knit fabric purveyor (pill city!) so I'm ready to spring for better quality.  I can't stop thinking about this gorgeous floral cotton-lycra jersey.  (Note, I am not affiliated with them in any way; I was just really happy with my fabric purchase last year and plan to buy there again).

I have some of the interlock left so I'll probably use it for tshirts for him this summer.  I used a dark teal cotton-lycra jersey for the neckband, and the zipper is a local purchase.