i’ve been KNITerviewed!

January 17, 2012July 7, 201419 Comments

guess what?

i’m so excited that Rae asked me to participate in her “KNITerview” series, where she is interviewing bloggers about how they sew with knit fabric (jersey, interlock, fleece, etc.). my post is up today! go check it out here and the full series of KNITerviews here. as a companion to Rae’s post, i wanted to make something new to remind myself what techniques i use when i sew with knits, and to take photos to give you some tips as i went.

i decided to make Em an oliver + s hopscotch dress (i first made the hopscotch skirt here). it’s refashioned out of a men’s t-shirt and promotional energy drink tank top, with an elephant applique for my elephant-loving girl! i intended it as a nightgown, but so far Em isn’t really buying that – it’s a daytime dress to her! and let me tell you something – with all my project run and play “design it myself” craziness, it felt great to actually sew a pattern as written, especially an oliver + s one! my brain needed a break.

above are the original garments – i got the dark gray-blue t-shirt from target for something like $5, in a men’s XXL. i loved the color, so i picked it up with no specific project in mind. always buy the biggest size possible! the lavender tank was free and never worn. both are jersey knit, and the tank top has a band of rib knit at the bottom, which i used on the neckline. here’s how to take it from t-shirts to nightgown (er…dress):

deconstruct the main t-shirt, cutting up the side seams and around the shoulder sleeves. to preserve the factory hems of the t-shirt as i mention in my KNITerview, line up the pattern pieces with the hems. i was okay with the sleeves being a little longer here, but you should normally take into account the fact that the pattern has a built-in hem allowance. read your pattern instructions and move the pattern piece down accordingly (for example, if the pattern says to fold up 1/2″ then another 1/2″ to hem, move your pattern piece down 1″ on your t-shirt – i sometimes draw a light pencil line on my pattern piece so i know where to line it up on the existing garment).

here’s how i like to cut knits. i iron my fabric well, place my pattern, then use pattern weights to hold it down (i got them at joann with a coupon, they’re filled with ball bearings and are nice and heavy). i trace around the pattern with my disappearing marker or tailor’s chalk (the triangle thing in the upper left), depending on the color of the fabric. i remove the pattern and weights, then pin along the inside of my traced lines to keep the two layers of fabric together while i cut (here it was on the fold). jersey knit especially loves to move around, so the pins prevent the layers from shifting.

the pattern calls for this, but adding 1/2″ strips of fusible interfacing to the shoulder seams helps keep them secure. i’d also highly recommend adding interfacing under buttonholes. for the applique, i use steam a seam lite – that keeps it flexible.

sew or serge your seams (i have a serger, so i serged!). if sewing, use a ballpoint needle. it does matter.

here’s a tip that i learned from trial and error. if i just serged the seams, i noticed eventually they’d pull apart at the ends because you can’t backstitch with a serger and i wasn’t folding up the garment to enclose the edges due to my goal of preserving the factory hem (i think they look nicest). so now i take the edges of my sleeves and bottom hems and give them a pass through the sewing machine after serging – i go back and forth 5-7 stitches or so within the serged seam to reinforce those edges. the casual observer will never know you didn’t hem it, and it stays secure!

place your applique, topstitch around it (which i didn’t do here as an experiment and it peeled up in the wash, so be sure to topstitch), and you’re done! ready for an elephant party!

this is Em’s elephant family. most were gifts, and somehow the collection keeps growing! 😉 she is quick to say that she is not their mommy (they have a mommy elephant over there on the far right), but she is their loving caretaker and has even been known to nurse the baby, little frankie, on occasion. they all have intricate relationships and she has named each one, most of whom are girls (oh shoot, i just realized i forgot popsicle popsicle!). little frankie is her current fave, but she really loves them all.

so now you see the full extent of her elephant obsession and know why i’ve got one happy little girl on my hands in her new elephant nightgown!

that’s it for me! i’m truly honored to be included in the fantastic group of bloggers that rae pulled together for…

PR&P week 2: tiny timber

January 13, 2012October 16, 201320 Comments

thank you soooo much to everyone who voted for my sweet tartan dress last week on project run & play! this week’s theme is boy week! yay!

poor boys, they get the short end of the stick in the sewing world. i think it’s just so hard to make boy clothes “special,” you know? it’s easy to draft a flouncier, twirlier, rufflier dress, or use a fantastic print for girls, but boys…it seems that the closer you can come to making them look like adult quality clothes, the better the result. so that was my goal here, for the most part. i wanted to make an outfit that would be very true to where my little guy is growing up (the outdoorsy, woodsy pacific northwest), but i also wanted it to be very comfortable and “finished looking.” though i did throw in a little fun too. gotta have a wink! here’s my sketch (i decided against the fargo hat):

i started with the pants. i used the basic pocket pants from “growing up sew liberated” as my base (what a great book that is – i’d been dying to dive into it). i downsized them from the smallest size given (2T) to 12-18 month size, slimmed the leg width, added a full flannel lining, lowered the front rise, changed the curved front pockets to slant, did a flat front waistband (with gathered elastic back), added button loops, faux back pockets, and did lots of topstitching to mimic a fly and flat felled seams. phew! it took a while!! i needed to use a montage on my PR&P post, but here are a couple better photos of the details…

i knew i wanted to leave the pants long enough to cuff them up to show the lining. oh man, i’m so jealous of him wearing these! the lining really is like wearing pajamas, it’s some of the softest flannel i’ve ever felt. i like the “traditional” red and black lumberjack plaid, too (this is the last of the plaid! i realize i did it last week too but i just couldn’t resist).

for his sweater, i’m a big fan of the shawl collar. i love it on men, and i thought it’d be really cute on a 13 month old boy. i washed and dried my husband’s old sweater to felt it, and it sewed up just fine! it’s 100% merino wool. i kept the existing hems on the sweater, and drafted my own pattern. it was fun figuring out how to make the shawl collar, though. the shape is a big football, pretty much, then it’s folded in half and the raw edge is attached, overlapping the ends. the leather button helps keep it down. i also appliquéd little oval microsuede elbow patches to the sweater (find my elbow patch tutorial for elsie marley here).

after that, i had a good basic outfit but i thought it needed a little something extra. so to complete the look, i made a flannel scarf (it’s a big rectangle that i sewed together and turned, topstitched, then added a big buttonhole in one side to pass the other end through), and a little felt coffee cup! i contemplated many felt portland-y accessories (a hatchet? log? fixie bike?) but figured that with all the coffee i drink to keep myself going after late sewing nights, a coffee cup was the most appropriate and recognizable. however, he didn’t want much to do with it! he kept throwing it. he must prefer stumptown coffee to starbucks…

so here’s the part where you go vote, if you haven’t yet. if you like my Tiny Timber boy look and want to see more from me, head over to project run & play to vote here! the voting was really tight last week, so every last one counts. thanks so much!!

that’s right, he’s pointing at YOU! go vote! 🙂

**Voting is now closed**

PR&P week 1: sweet tartan junebug remix

January 6, 2012March 5, 201253 Comments

here we go – the new season of project run and play is underway! i’ve been so nervous not having any idea what the other designers’ looks are (that’s the project runway advantage – they can see what others are making and have an idea of where they stand…well that and they have tim gunn to guide them, of course!). but i think i’ve been true to my aesthetic, stretched a bit, and i’m really excited about my dress!

here’s a little more about my “sweet tartan” junebug remix…

i’ve been wanting to try the junebug pattern for a while, so i was pumped that it was the remix challenge this season. it’s a different method of thinking to truly remix a pattern rather than just tweaking a detail here or there like i normally do. i wanted to keep enough of the original dress to remain identifiable, while still making it my own. i sketched a few ideas, getting progressively farther away from the pattern itself though still not “remixed” enough for my likes. and then, a breakthrough! switch the cute button bodice detail to the back! after that, and deciding that i wanted to use a plaid print, the rest sort of came. here’s my sketch – got pretty close, eh?

as i sketched, a little lightbulb went off – hadn’t i seen a wrap plaid dress before? didn’t sarah jessica parker wear one once? wasn’t it designed by alexander mcqueen? the answer to all three questions – yes!

source

so that was fun. apparently i had some deep-seated inspiration from an instyle magazine that i read way back in 2006. i went with it, obviously a lot more 3-year-old-friendly in cotton plaid and cream batiste. i chose the pink and yellow tartan because i thought Em would like it. she did! i tried to do a photoshoot at powell’s books, and the little squirt wouldn’t stop running and dancing!

except when she was sticking her tongue out at the camera…

normally, rampant dancing is a sign of a successful dress and something i’d be excited about, but in this case it was pretty frustrating, since i’m actually being JUDGED on this project. i took about 100 photos and didn’t get a good one of just her standing still showing the front of the dress! photoshoot number two was taken in Em’s bedroom with her best friend modeling. thankfully they’re the same size and she’s not used to these blog photoshoot dealies, so she was much calmer. isn’t she sweet? 🙂

okay, guys, if you haven’t yet, head on over to project run and play and vote for your fave! you have until sunday evening. my sweet tartan dress needs you! 🙂

FINGERS CROSSED!!

**Voting is now closed**

UPDATE: You can find my tutorial for this dress right here! Happy sewing!

twirly red christmas dress

December 12, 2011November 17, 201318 Comments

it was a sewing mama’s dream come true. Em’s dance teacher announced that the holiday recital costume wouldn’t be provided, but instead would be “a festive party dress” of our choice. JACKPOT!

i made the bodice of the oliver + s bubble dress in a 2T, which i also used for her easter dress. instead of the bubble, i attached a circle skirt for maximum twirl (tutorial here by Dana).

i cut it up the back to be able to follow the bubble dress skirt-attach directions as written and to give her room to get into it, and lined the whole dress with cream batiste. i wasn’t sure if she’d have the coordination to really be able to twirl it, but i must have been kidding myself. this girl is a dancer. look at her go!

i actually had to bribe her with mini marshmallows to HOLD STILL so i could try to get a couple detail photos. seems counterintuitive, but it worked for a second.

the red satin made me dizzy to sew, but once it had turned into a dress, it was worth it. i added a pre-made cream satin piping between the bodice and skirt, and cream buttons.

it also doubles as a blanket. isn’t it fun? 🙂

as for the recital, she was mad that they had to dance tap instead of ballet, and got a bit of stage fright (i bet she would have been more into it if it was ballet and she got to twirl and dance on her tiptoes the whole time). she made it on stage with no problems, but she just stood there for most of the song. still adorable to see all the little 3 year olds up there, though. it was held at the grant high school auditorium, of mr. holland’s opus fame! she’s so tiny, my little gal…

i’ve got much more to blog about (O’s first birthday party! the fabled superhero cape tutorial!) so let’s everybody just agree that a few hours need to be added to each day so there’s time for everything we want to get done. i did get my first PR&P project finished too, which is a huge relief! glad to get something made and out of my head.

i’ll try to be back posting more here soon!

ombré chiffon dance skirt

November 30, 2011December 2, 201110 Comments

oh man, you guys. i just got back into town after being at a work conference for 3 days, the first time i’ve ever been away overnight by myself since having kids. it was so hard. coming home to my trooper of a husband and my two little sweeties just made my heart swell. i want to sneak back up to Em’s room and snuggle her in her sleep, creepozoid-style…or pluck O out of bed and rock him like when he was a newborn. i missed them SO much and being home feels so good. luckily, work travel will be pretty rare.

before i left, i finished up this new ballet skirt for Em to wear to class, because we’d lost her petal skirt somewhere in the house and she won’t go to ballet without one. i actually tried to make it with fold over elastic first which looked cute, but in just one wear a bunch of the fabric detached from the FOE. so i redid the waistband with some satin blanket binding, threading 1/2″ elastic through the casing.

the fabric itself is a pink ombré chiffon that Em picked out at mill end. mill end is actually where my mom used to shop for fabric when she sewed for us as kids, and i remember going there with her when i was in grade school. i hadn’t shopped there since i started sewing, though – i figured out the last time i was there was 1992! the feel and smell was really familiar, so it was pretty cool going there again and continuing the tradition. their apparel fabric selection is HUGE!

the chiffon is beautiful and twirls wonderfully, but is definitely more delicate than the georgette. it has already snagged a bit. oh well…these skirts are so easy to make! the key element to working with this type of fancy fabric is a fine needle (i use a size 10). cut the curves from the ends of a long rectangle, hem it with a baby hem (i learned how here), gather the top, overlap the curved edges, and add the waistband (like this type of thing). insert elastic and you’re done!

of course as soon as i finished the new one we found the old one behind the couch. here are her three ballet skirts, all in a row in order of completion: