kcw spring 2014 :: baseball raglan

April 8, 2014April 7, 201410 Comments

i think we can all pretty much agree that the best part of sewing for our kids is indulging their idiosyncrasies and obsessions, right? for instance, if your kid insists on dressing like a “sports boy” most days but thankfully doesn’t know about brands yet, you can go ahead and make him a shirt with a baseball on it and he will be one happy camper.

i upcycled my old tank top plus a maternity shirt whose blues complemented each other nicely. since this KCW has a “mini me” theme, i’ve decided to use fabric from my upcycle stash as much as possible this week.

the pattern is the Oliver + S field trip raglan tee (available with cargo pants or standalone) sewn in a 2T…but i used existing hems and still cut the shirt body to the cutline (even though i didn’t have to hem it) to gain a bit of length and make it fit more like a 3T. i also cut the sleeves to be short sleeves (the pattern comes with long sleeves) and preserved the existing hems there too.

i only had the baby’s naptime to sew and he’s an unpredictable napper, so even though i should’ve made the 3T outright, i sewed what was already traced out on my table.

aren’t those blues nice? i love that raglan tees make color blocking so fun and easy.

on the front, i freezer paper stenciled a baseball. O is quite the little t-ball player (in our backyard) and i knew he’d like it. i just sketched it super quickly onto freezer paper (after my basketball and soccer ball attempts didn’t work), drew over it with a sharpie to thicken the lines a bit, then quickly cut it out with x-acto knife. i wanted it to look a bit messy/sketchy like i’ve been seeing around the Pinterests lately.

i showed it to him and he said “oooh can i put it on right now?!”

woo!

now maybe i can clear a couple 18-24 month shirts that he still squeezes himself into out of his drawer?

the littlest fella actually napped long enough for me to start some shorts for O, too. i went into this KCW cold (nothing cut out or prepped and only vague ideas of what i want to make) so i’m just taking it as i can. if the baby sleeps in his bed for any stretch of time, i’ll sew like the dickens!!!!!

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!

kcw fall 2013: day 5&6:: skeleton fairy tutu

October 27, 2013October 27, 201313 Comments

aside from a tweak or two, halloween costumes are now done! i finished up spiderman on friday and also sewed skeleton fairy’s tutu.

this is the tutu from little things to sew (affiliate link) by Liesl Gibson of Oliver + S, and i’ve made it a few times including for Em’s halloween costume two years ago! she still wears that one, and now this one will be added to the mix.

i made it out of shimmery white tulle with sparkly black tulle layered over the top and black chevron ribbon to tie it. that ribbon is perfect for a skeleton, right?

the black tulle is a bit stiff and “crunchy” and didn’t want to gather, making this tutu more difficult to sew, but the sparkles are great in person, kind of like a night sky.

we hit the store for the rest of her costume – wings and a wand. i’m considering some sort of hair clip or fairy crown or something, any suggestions for me there? frankly i’m a bit sick of looking at all the “sexy” adult costumes that pop up when i try to get ideas for this one online. they’re just so ridiculous (i mean, sexy bert and ernie?! SERIOUSLY??).

but hey, my kids’ costumes are done and that was my primary KCW goal! i’ll get photos of them and show ya this week.

how did you do?

kcw fall 2013: day 3&4:: spiderman start

October 24, 2013October 25, 201311 Comments

got some photos early this morning of O in his work-in-progress spiderman costume…

so early i was surprised my camera focused at all!

this is how i typically work, when i’m doing sort of “off pattern” sewing for my kids: i sew late at night, but leave key parts unfinished. i try the clothes on them the next day to assess fit and note the adjustments i need to make. for this suit, the hood is not yet attached (i’m using the bimaa pattern, hacked quite a bit), and the leggings (go to leggings pattern) are a bit too long.

i’ll shorten the blue parts of the leggings and sleeves, sew and attach the hood, and i think it’ll fit great!

i color blocked the shoulders (somehow giving myself a difficult V seam to sew), and sides, piecing in the blue knit and ending up pretty pleased with the result. the blue fabric is heavier than the red, which actually turned out okay! the spider is a hand-drawn freezer paper stencil, and the webbing is also hand-drawn with a ruler and fabric marker. i googled spiderman tons of times as i figured out how to put it all together.

it was pretty labor intensive, actually. i still haven’t “webbed” the hood yet.

but you guys. he LOVES this costume. i was worried because the spider actually scared him when i first showed it to him, but when he tried this outfit on he WOULD NOT TAKE IT OFF. i tried reason, i tried bribes, i tried everything i could. but without the hood attached, the neckline was stretching out the longer he had it on, so finally i just had to take it off of him. poor guy. he really wanted to be spiderman all day.

it’s fun that he’s old enough to get excited about his costume this year. he’s SO pumped for me to finish it up so he can wear it nonstop…too bad Halloween is still a week away!

tomorrow i want to wrap this one up and see how far i can get on a tutu for Em’s costume. wish me luck!

kcw fall 2013: day 2:: skeleton suit

October 22, 2013October 22, 201316 Comments

here’s my KCW progress for today – and hey, you even get some modeled shots! spooky.

to start off Em’s skeleton fairy costume, i made a simple shirt and leggings combo out of black jersey knit with freezer paper stenciled bones (see Dana’s tutorial here – i use a foam brush and blot it on rather than brushing). as i mentioned in my last post, i’d recently gotten Em some skeleton pajamas but she wanted BLACK ones for her costume, hence the making.

i traced the pajamas, added a couple more vertebrae just to cover a bit more of the shirt, lengthened the femurs a bit so the joint hits at her knee, and added a split in the forearm bones, because i’m anal enough to need the costume to be slightly more anatomically correct than the pajamas.

ULNA AND RADIUS, YO!

i painted the bones first with white, then with two coats of glow fabric paint (affiliate link). it does really glow, but not as brightly as the pajamas. the freezer paper didn’t come off as cleanly as usual either – i think the glow paint sort of shellacked it on there. oh well.

the shirt is Rae’s flashback skinny tee in 4T. it’s unhemmed because a) i wanted her to try it on 2) i’m kinda lazy and D) i like the way the raw edges look.

the leggings were originally sunki leggings, but i long ago modified my pattern tracing to be just one piece rather than a front and back. i also added length and sewed them up like Go To Leggings (affiliate link), because the Go To waistband attachment method is totally genius and pro.

her batman mask was made by CINO and isn’t part of the costume. more on that later (i know i keep saying that!). i don’t want to spoil the entire costume reveal though, so you just get bits at a time (and with random accessories).

an unexpected sewing emergency (commission project deadline i thought was next week but got moved to NOW) popped up on me, so this is all i got done today, KCW-wise. we’ll see what tomorrow holds…