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!

rainbow loom road trip case

February 6, 2014February 6, 201416 Comments

recently i got to pattern test my friend Anna’s newest offering, the Road Trip Case! I decided to make the “Rainbow Loom” version for Em.

Em got a Rainbow Loom (affiliate link) from her aunt and uncle for Christmas, and immediately became obsessed. i helped her look up how-to videos on YouTube, we found this one, and she’d just play it on repeat while fishtail looming to her heart’s content.

it was actually kind of amazing how quickly she picked up on it – i wasn’t sure if she’d be too young, but she seemed to have zero trouble. like i’d leave the room, come back, and she’d have a bracelet “cast on” and well on its way. crafting must be in her blood. 😉

and of course, when a new hobby is started, there’s all sorts of new gear and a storage solution becomes necessary. that’s where the Road Trip Case comes in.

this was such a fun pattern to pick fabrics for! i went sort of “modern granny floral mashup” with it, mixing a fat quarter from heather ross’ briar rose (i got it at Bolt, you can get it here) with some pink kona solid, a vintage sheet from my stash, and some awesome purple floral bias tape that Jess gave me. it was a project for Em and only for her, so i just went with what i thought would make her happy.

the pattern instructs you to make a see-through vinyl pocket. i’d never sewn with vinyl before but it was super fun, not painful (just use scotch tape on your presser foot/the strike plate if it’s sticking), and the result is so cool. the zipper was pretty much the easiest zipper i’ve ever inserted, too.

there is an elastic loop for your hook, elasticized pockets for you loom(s), and the pattern includes an alternate option for flap pockets to use for more general art/craft supplies. i love the one Anna adapted to make into a travel sewing case – if it’s ever in the cards for me to go to one of those awesome sewing retreats that keeps popping up, you know i’ll be making a case for it!

i really enjoy small quilting projects like this – not sure if you can see it too well, but the case is quilted together and it gives it such a nice sturdiness and structure (much like my hospital bag, also a Noodlehead pattern). the pattern itself is great, too – Anna is great at listening to testers and an advanced beginner could definitely tackle it. it’s fun to bring all the components together for such a utilitarian (and cute!) case.

and of course it folds up all tidy too (i poached a few of Em’s mini elastic hair bands).

RAINBOW LOOM POWER.

get your Road Trip Case pattern over at Noodlehead and thanks for letting me test it for ya, Anna!

* * *

P.S. Em’s star star dress is blogged HERE, and her hair is in braids because these photos happened to be taken the same day as THIS post!

film petit: the princess bride

January 27, 2014January 28, 201427 Comments

MAWWIAGE.

MAWWIAGE IS WHUT BWINGS US TOGEVAHH TODAAY.

well, mawwiage plus the epic 1987 film “The Princess Bride.” i can’t remember the first time i saw this movie, or how many times i’ve seen it, but it’s a lot, starting in childhood. it’s a fairy tale as told by a grandpa to his sick-in-bed grandson (Fred Savage), about the beautiful Princess Buttercup (Robin Wright) and how she is about to marry an evil Prince Humperdinck, but is kidnapped and finds herself having quite an adventure. all the while, she tries to she keep the faith that her true love, Westley, will come back to her.

the movie has ACTION! ADVENTURE! ROMANCE! and a big dose of COMEDY! at Buttercup’s lowest point, when she is being forced to marry the prince against her will as her beloved Westley lays “mostly dead” in the Pit of Despair, the voice that comes out of the priest with his ridiculous speech impediment breaks all tension and you can’t help but just giggle. there are LOTS of those silly moments in The Princess Bride – more than I remembered – and it makes it such a fun movie to watch, even as an adult.

film petit: the princess bride

the wedding scene, with it’s high drama and equally high comedic factor, is the scene i chose to sew for film petit. Buttercup’s elaborately embellished wedding dress also seemed like something my little gal would love wearing.

film petit: the princess bride

with this outfit, i finally answered her pleas to make her a princess dress. and i made not just any princess dress, but a princess wedding dress!

i started with the Oliver + S Playtime Dress and stayed pretty true to the pattern for the most part. for the floor length skirt i just cut a long rectangle and gathered it selvedge to selvedge (it was very wide satin).

i made a few changes to the bodice, cutting the neckline a bit lower, splitting the front down the middle and modifying the facings to match, adding buttonholes for cording, a lace underlay, and cutting the bottom of the bodice to a curve.

Buttercup’s dress has an array of trim and beadwork to add texture, and i did the best i could to get that feel by adding this beautiful beaded lace flower trim and gold/white woven elastic trim to the neckline and bodice – all from the bridal section of Fabric Depot.

the dress is satin, also from the bridal section of the depot. it was on clearance and i’m glad i got “good stuff” for a lower price – this is the best satin i’ve ever sewed with! it didn’t shift on me much at all, didn’t snag easily, and it flows like water. she loves wearing this dress and actually hangs it on her closet door when she’s not wearing it!

i first cut a lace cape more like a half circle to billow out under her arms, but i made a mistake and cut it too short for Em – it was only knee-length and she insisted it reach the floor! i salvaged the rest to make the floor length version you see here. i wish it was wider but it works.

so even though The Princess Bride is PG-rated (same rating as Frozen, Em and every other girl between the ages of 3 and 7’s favorite movie right now), it has a LOT more questionable content that i don’t want her to see just yet (ya know, stuff like nightmare-inducing ROUSes and torture chambers…). the ‘80s were a wild and crazy time for movie ratings, i guess. so Em has seen parts of The Princess Bride with whole scenes skipped over until she’s older.

what she has seen, though, was enough to get her in character for these photos, melancholy bride acting and all.

she was cracking me up. she knew Buttercup didn’t want to get married to that awful Prince Humperdinck, and she did not crack a smile through most of this photoshoot – and when we were done, she had me pretend that the Prince’s men were after us and i was helping her escape!

so now it is time for you to escape, for you will surely crack a giant-sized smile when you see what Jess & Jess have in store for you today!

our guest Jess from Craftiness is not Optional had the brilliant idea to do The Princess Bride, and we said “as you wish!” Jess sewed Buttercup and Westley the Dread Pirate Roberts and found the PERFECT photoshoot setting, too, complete with rolling hill. really amazing work, and thanks SO much for joining us, Jess! check it out!

my partner Jess from A Little Gray sewed up two of the three bandits that kidnap poor Buttercup but later become Westley’s allies. it would be INCONCEIVABLE not to love Andre the Giant as Fezzik and Mandy Patinkin (or as my husband has taken to calling him, “Battleship Patinkin”) as Inigo Montoya! she also got photos at a CASTLE. off with you to see Jess’s post, and prepare to die (but only if you have six fingers on your right hand).

***

here are the guidelines for film petit:

every month or so, Jess and i (plus a guest) sew an outfit (or outfits) for our kid (or kids) inspired by a movie we love. not sure if we’ll get a February post in due to the imminent arrival of this baby in my belly, but we’ll be back as soon as we can.
please add any of your movie-inspired kid sewing to the film petit flickr group. if you sew along with our film petit choices, we’d love to see that too!
this is a pretty relaxed series, really the only rule is to make outfits for kids based on films you love. if you have any questions, please let either of us know.
film petit archives: the life aquatic with steve zissou, amélie, fantastic mr. fox, psycho, moonrise kingdom, ferris bueller’s day off, the big lebowski, back to the future, napoleon dynamite, zoolander

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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!