sew off challenge: make a catalogue-inspired garment
i feel like i’m late to the mini-boden party. i’ve heard the name, knew people loved it, but hadn’t REALLY browsed through the catalogue until gail posted her awesome hedgehog pants in meg’s weeklong KCWC lead up. that same day, i think, we got our mini-boden catalogue, i browsed, and i was inspired.
i was inspired by a neon dinosaur t-shirt!
so i made one – only mine’s a sweatshirt…and a different dino.
there were a few things i really wanted to do with my final project for KCWC and the sew off – sew for O again (really loving making clothes for him these days, it’s a fun challenge to push my aesthetic with fun details like jess says, but still keep it boyish), use the new oliver + s field trip raglan pattern that i won in a giveaway from sewn studio (thanks ladies!), and knock down some of my upcycle stash once again.
oh and i’ve also been wanting to use a touch of neon on something.
the gray sweatshirt material is my husband’s old j.crew sweater, a soft, heavy interlock. i used the existing neckband and sewed it all on my serger, preserving the existing hems (my tips for how to do that here). i folded the sleeves and bottoms of the pattern up 1″ to allow for the lack of hemming.
i decided i wanted to put a “nice dinosaur” on his shirt, since he’s so little…an herbivore, perhaps. i found my template by googling “brachiosaurus line art” and browsing images until i found the one i liked best. printed it, traced it onto steam-a-seam lite, reversed it. including tracing and cutting the pattern and appliqué, this whole sweater took about an hour and fifteen minutes to make. really not too shabby at all.
the acid green was a shirt of mine from H&M; i got it thinking it’d be fun as a pop of color in my wardrobe but it was just too bright for me. as an accent against gray, though, it’s perfect.
i cut the notch a little too deeply in the back, so added a bit of twill ribbon to cover it up (and to help keep the neck binding from flipping out). i like the extra detail. i sized the sweater up to a 2T instead of 18-24 months, since he’ll be wearing it over another shirt. the fit is great, it was a quick and satisfying sew, and i KNOW i’ll be making more of these as t-shirts, sweaters, maybe even extended to dresses! i’d been on the hunt for the perfect raglan pattern and i think i found it in the field trip raglan.
that’s it for our sew off; this catalogue item was sort of a “bonus” to me when we nailed down the challenges, and i’m not sure if Rae has a project coming…we’re only humans with tiny humans to take care of and normal lives to live and jobs to do and sleep to get, right? i only got this done because it was fast and easy and i really like crossing things off lists. really, though, i’ve got to get cracking on some other pressing projects (film petit, halloween costume, flower girl dress…fun stuff)!
anyway, though, thanks so much for getting me through my KCWC block, Rae! i had a really fun time and i loved pushing myself more than i would’ve without the sew off. it was also fun to see that Rae’s “mental to do list” was just as long as (or longer than) my own!
i’ll leave you with O putting on some gloves with eyes, wearing boots with eyes, as tigger watches:
very fun KCWC guys! thanks for hosting, Meg!!! great things always come from KCWC.
