PR&P season 3 reunion: nanook of the northwest

February 9, 2014May 14, 201439 Comments

two years ago, i was a contestant in season 3 of project run & play (sort of project runway for kids clothes…and online). it was an intense but creative season, and a bunch of us really bonded with each other (some during but behind the scenes, some after the competition was all over). so when Jess contacted us to do a virtual Season 3 reunion, I was definitely on board!

since i’m super pregnant, i wasn’t planning on sewing anything for the reunion – this was to be more of a reflective post on my experience. buuuuut then my seasonmates started showing previews on instagram, and i just couldn’t resist the temptation to join them again – plus i got stuck at home for a few days due to a rare Portland snowstorm, so i actually had time! inspiration hit – i’d redo the Outerwear Challenge because i love sewing outerwear but haven’t for a while, and i’d of course stay true to my signature style.

and here it is…my little Nanook of the Northwest (because what’s a PR&P project without a catchy title??).

i decided to make a super cozy coat for Em with special details – fun to wear but still practical, feminine but not frilly, stylish but understated, with plays on color…my signature style. it’ll keep her warm on the playground but will catch attention too!

when i sewed for PR&P, i always started with a sketch and shared that in my weekly posts. sketching seems to be how my brain generate new ideas, guides my process, and it’s also very satisfying to see it turn into reality.

i had been wanting to make a sherpa-lined hoodie for O, actually, so that jumpstarted my idea. i looked through my stash to find this great dot dot Echino canvas in the perfect outerwear weight (i scored it on sale at Bolt, you can find it online here) sherpa from JoAnn, and faux fur left over from Sam’s hat to trim it out.

it closes with brass snaps – after seeing Kelly’s amazing Minoru in real life, i’ve become obsessed and think they add a really nice touch – plus there was NO way i was forcing buttonholes into that sherpa!

the hood is the Red Riding Hood Cape hood from Little Things to Sew (affiliate link) – I cut a large but had to trim 1.5” off the front and curve the bottom a bit, and it’s still pretty big. i’m sure the medium would’ve worked. i love that it’s so oversized though, and Em likes to snuggle into it, which is pretty cute.

i used the pocket template from the Playtime Tunic for the side seam pockets, cut down to 12-18 month size.

for the body, i used the same pattern i made for little red and my suzy coat – it’s an Oliver + S Sunday Brunch Jacket yoke with shortened sleeves, but extended to full length (this time with a hi-low hemline) and fully lined (the body and hood with sherpa, the sleeves with some voile for easier on/off). one of the most important rules of project run & play is that patterns can be used but they must be heavily altered, so i gave myself the same constraints for this challenge.

test fits were seeming a little snug on Em due to the thicker lining, so i added a snap strip on one side to extend it and add a bit of a more professional finish, which worked really nicely. i’m praying it’s big enough that she can still wear it this coming fall/winter.

one major difference between my skill level during PR&P and now – i conceived of and sewed this coat in one afternoon/evening, and photographed it the next morning! I was much slower two years ago – one look took me a whole week to accomplish and i was learning so much as i went (collages, photo editing, pattern alteration, etc.). all the practice from film petit helps, i’m sure. and hey, film petit wouldn’t even be here without PR&P (since it was inspired by the Season 4 movie challenge) so that’s another nice tie in!

i was going to make leggings to go with it, but just as i finished the coat, the power went out because of freezing rain on the lines! i took it as a sign and skipped the leggings, layering shorts i’d already made with some fun blue tights to complete the look.

Em had such a good time during this photoshoot – crunching through the layer of ice to the powdery snow below.

and i was happy to get outside of the house for the first time in 3 days! sewing is fun, but fresh air is better.

polka dot sherpa coat

project run & play was a really game changing experience for me, causing me think of myself as a “creative person” for the first time ever. it was also really difficult, and made me seriously gut check myself and my style, why i blog, etc. i think i wasn’t quite “ready” as a sewist or a blogger to be in a competition like that at that time, but it definitely shoved me forward at a pace i never would’ve had on my own.

i’m also so grateful for the relationships i built during PR&P. i feel really lucky to call my former competitors friends, and truly admire and am inspired by all of them. it’s fun to get to cheer each other on when you’re not in a competition, ya know?

thanks for following along – i know a few of you have been with me since the PR&P days or before, and i really appreciate you so much!! when you’re in a competition like that, it’s amazing how much you need that encouragement and support from people that “get” you. and i hope that everyone that’s found me since then now has a bit more of my story – without PR&P, you probably wouldn’t know my blog – it really sort of put me on the kid sewing blog map.

and now i’d love it if you’d please go check out the reunion posts from my fellow Season 3-ers that i’m so happy to call friends!

click on the bubbles below and it’ll take you to each post…

and thanks so much once again to Jess for organizing this reunion!!

P.S. did you know that 1922’s Nanook of the North is considered to be the first full-length documentary? i just can’t avoid being inspired by film!

striped knit baby pants

February 1, 2014February 1, 201425 Comments

DAY 3 – 4 of baby prep week: blog, run important errands like picking up my contacts prescription and making a Target run for things to put in the hospital bag, sleep, have lots of braxton hicks contractions and watch my belly drop even further, throw some stuff into hospital bag, go on 10th wedding anniversary dinner date with husband. 🙂

DAY 5 of baby prep week: sew some baby pants!!!!!

teehee! aren’t these kid of silly but also adorable? i think they are. i’ve actually had this idea to make some super simple and comfy skinny-legged knit newborn pants for a long time now based on my favorite ones that i used all the time with the first two kids. the annoying thing about shopping at actual stores is they’ll have something great one season, never to be seen again – so i had some favorite 0-3 month baby pants from when Em was born that i’ve been hanging onto but have seen better days.

i just went ahead and used them as a template to make these out of scraps from my maternity pencil skirt (it’s a ponte knit), eliminating the center seam to try a sort of drop crotch look (heavily influenced by Tara) and big cuffs. ain’t nobody got time for hemming teeny tiny baby pant legs.

they were super quick and fun to make, took very little fabric, and i have no idea if they’ll fit. if they do, i’ll probably make a bunch more and release this as a free pattern and tutorial for your baby sewing pleasure. they’re so fast and i THINK they’ll be so cute, but perhaps they’ll be ridiculous in a clownishly bad way, in which case i’ll do some tweaking. i’ll let you know.

it’s a bummer that i don’t have a little baby to try them on NOW because i kinda want to whip up about 5 pairs of these out of old t-shirts and knit scraps immediately. i’m gonna take them to the hospital…with a backup outfit in case they’re just wrong. haha.

but yeah, a baby pants design that’s been floating around in my head is finally an actual real-life garment, so that’s another item off my random pregnancy brain “to do” list (current remaining items include having a new kitchen sink installed and sewing a changing pad cover out of this fabric to go in the boy’s room).

hey look i match the button!

rainbow slouchy beanie

January 14, 2014January 14, 201415 Comments

while i was taking my class at close knit, i had fun wandering around touching the different yarns, admiring the colors and varying degrees of softness, learning about weights, the usual “getting to know this new medium” type stuff. and then i found a yarn that was so perfect for my little gal and decided to make her a hat even though she didn’t need one.

slouchy pink rainbow hat

it’s pink, but it’s also rainbow-y! it’s soft, it’s worsted weight – lighter weight yarn than i’d ever knit with before, but not so tiny it was scary…it was perfect. it’s the first “real” yarn i bought and yes, good yarn makes a big difference (just like good fabric does while sewing!). it’s by cascade yarns – superwash paints in rainbow sherbet and i loved knitting with it.

i thought it’d be cute to make her a slouchy beanie, and asked Tara what pattern she liked – she suggested the Graham (free on Ravelry). my teacher said by age 5 or 6 a kid can wear adult hat patterns, so i cast on the adult medium size from the pattern started work on the ribbing.

at a certain point, i decided i didn’t need the broken rib texture to add interest to the main body of the hat – the yarn had so much going on color-wise, i stuck with my sewing philosophy of “loud fabric? use a simple pattern” and hoped it’d apply to knitting too.

so after i was done with about 2.5” of k1p1 ribbing, i just knit in the round until it measured about 7.5” from the edge, then started my decrease (i had to look up how to do that evenly). i first knitted a row adding a marker every 12 stitches, so with the next round i could just get to the last two stitches before each marker and knit them together rather than having to count. i love how the decreased part looks with the little ridges! once it got too tight for my needles (i don’t know how to use double pointed needles so i just did it all on circulars) i just cinched up the last bit and added a pom pom. as you do. 🙂

i blocked the hat and let it dry overnight with the crown stretched over a dinner bowl (my first time blocking!). it definitely helped add to the slouchiness, though it stretched out the brim a little more than i wanted.

it still fits her fine, just a teensy bit loose.

oh! i should talk quickly about her skirt too – i made it for her first day of school and felt like it was too simple to blog on its own…but it goes so nicely with her hat, i figured i could throw it in here, okay?

the fabric is the popular (with good reason!) briar rose by heather ross – hex bee in lilac. i basically sewed a lazy days skirt with no ribbon, and slapped a shot cotton hexi pocket on there for fun. she’s worn it quite a bit in the last few months.

in this outfit, all layered and cozy and pink and purple, i think she looks like a little rasta grandma. 🙂

i keep thinking that, as a beginner, i should knit something bulkier, something with immediate gratification just to practice the whole process and get more projects under my belt, but i really like the look of the thinner yarns and the shapes those creations take, ya know? can’t help it. and i’m pretty much in love with this hat on top of her head.

peace out.

more hat details here on Ravelry.

gifts for the nieces

December 30, 2013December 30, 201312 Comments

when my blog is quiet like it has been, it usually means i’m up to my eyeballs actually making stuff.

and aside from making a human (due to arrive in less than 2 months now!), i also sewed quite a few Christmas gifts this year – nine, actually. that’s kind of a lot for me. i got photos of MOST of them ahead of time, but may need to follow up on a few that i really want to photograph modeled rather than taped to a wall, so we’ll see how many of the nine show up here. i even made a MAN gift! anyway, let’s knock three out right now, eh?

i have three nieces – my sister’s kids – and i feel like i don’t sew for them very often. i really wanted to make them each a comfortable, wearable, but uniquely handmade garment to go with some store-bought leggings I picked up on black friday.

for the 4 year old (Em’s best friend, currently in pre-kindergarten, and almost always wearing a knit top and leggings when i see her):

a Nessie Top! i tried to pattern test this for Jess of CINO, but her pattern testings somehow come at especially busy times for me, and I wasn’t able to. however, i still had the tester version of the pattern and was very excited to sew it up! the top comes together really quickly (construction is similar to the FBST, since it’s a simple knit shirt), but i love the swingy girly shape and hi-low hem of the Nessie, and couldn’t wait to make it in some Heather Ross Briar Rose strawberry jersey knit (sent to me by the very same Jess for my birthday, and such a dream to sew!).

i hemmed it using my double needle and a walking foot and it worked great.

i added a little olive colored microsuede pocket for a little extra interest and to make sure it didn’t go “pajama.” i left the pocket edges raw and zigzagged around them to secure. word is, my niece is a fan and it fits great! i made a 4T and she is average-sized (about the same size or bigger than 5.5 year old Em who tried it on and had just the right amount of growing room).

for the 2.5 year old…a peasant dress covered in bunnies and balloons!

pattern is the sweet little dress by leila & ben. i’ve sewed a bunch of these in my time, and they’re always Em’s most-worn everyday dresses (remember this one?). they make it easy for a little gal to dress herself, they’re reversible and comfortable and cute. they can be layered in the winter and worn alone with sandals in the summer. the recipient of this dress pulled it on over her Christmas Eve jammies upon opening it and, i’m told, cried when it had to be washed.

always a good sign.

i made a 3T for growing room, and flared out the sides a bit as i like to do on this pattern. the fabric is Balloon in Aqua by Sarah Jane from her Children at Play line (still available here and here). i think i got it at Fabric Depot way back when.

for their baby sis, who is 11 months and juuuust starting to take a few steps but still mostly crawls, another peasant-style top…

this is Made by Rae’s Pierrot Tunic, another pattern i’ve made quite a few times before. i made this in 12-18 months figuring it’ll be a dress now and a top later (the way these things fit, i bet the middle sis could wear it now if she wanted!). i omitted the neck ruffle but took a cue from Rae and added vintage ribbon trim to the bottom (can’t remember who so kindly sent that pretty ribbon to me! help? fess up!).

the fabric had no selvedge info but has a really nice feel to it (almost like pima cotton maybe?) and was sent to me by Sanae Ishida as a thank you for guest posting for her – thanks, Sanae! it worked perfectly for the Pierrot. i stitched the ribbon on by staying right on that purple edging – so glad my machine allows me to move my needle ever so slightly to allow me to get that precise.

and there ya go – three pink/purple garments for three sisters! i didn’t want to make anything so fancy or precious that it wouldn’t be worn, and i put a lot of thought into the styles i chose for each little gal. these were the first three gifts i made this year and i was nowhere near burnout yet, so they were super fun! it was good to sew patterns i was really comfortable with, too. that helped a lot.

i’ll be back with more handmade gifts!

rainbow roller skate dress

December 4, 2013December 5, 201310 Comments

every year i seem to forget how hard it is to blog in December. the weather and daylight are bad for photography (especially for those of us with daytime away-from-home jobs), weekends are packed with activities, and the sewing that is done this month is almost all Christmas-gift-related. SO. while i am busy behind the scenes elving it up in my basement sewing lair, i thought i’d haul out an unblogged project i’ve been meaning to show you for months!

this is Em’s 5th birthday dress.

i think it perfectly captures her personality on the day in May that she turned 5 years old.

the dress is the Oliver + S Roller Skate Dress. it’s a 3T with 4T length, just like the first one i made. the pink base is kona cotton, and the appliqué was ALLLLL Em’s idea.

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