KCWC spring 2012: day 3:: elephant charlie dress

April 27, 2012April 30, 201219 Comments

i sewed this on day 3 of KCWC. it is now day 5, and this evening was the first chance i had to get a photo of her wearing it! oy. my day job is interfering with my photoshoots!

if you’ve been hanging around my blog for any length of time, you’re probably well aware of my almost-four-year-old’s love of elephants. it started when a good friend (YO E!!!) painted some sweet elephant art for her nursery and gifted her a stuffed elephant as a tiny baby. at a certain point, Em adopted elephants as her sort of mascot. in fact, i’m considering an elephant theme for her birthday party next week…nope, haven’t planned it yet.

anyway, so when we hit the bolt sale one recent weekend and Em spotted this elephant print (ellie fam by birch organics), there was really no choice but to buy it. together we picked the PERFECT kaffe fassett shot cotton to pair with it (steel – the crossweave is orange!) and she immediately started asking me when it’d be done…

i originally planned to make the new oliver + s croquet dress with this combo, but it seemed a little too involved for my KCWC goals, and besides, Rae went and released her charlie dress add-on which i’ve been wanting to sew forever! i decided the fabrics were more suited to the charlie dress instead. like so many of Rae’s patterns, i had swooned over the many tester versions she posted about in recent months, waiting for the official release. that girl is a GOOD pattern maker, seriously. you never know when you download something from “a blogger” whether it’ll actually work out, and hers are high quality and clear. i trust her completely. i’d never made a yoke like this, and her instructions made it a snap.

ETA: i’ve been seeing a lot about sharing struggles this week, so i did want to mention one thing – the sleeve facings were hard to get a clean topstitching line on, since they’re a couple inches up the sleeve and i wanted to sew on the right side rather than “in the tube” like usual. i got it, but on a 3T it was hard not to sew multiple layers by mistake. i think next time i would attach the sleeve facings first and THEN sew the side and arm seams, and add topstitching to the edge of the sleeves to tack down the seam allowances. anyway, not a mistake in the pattern, just maybe an easier way to do it in the future?

Rae’s clothing designs have unique and exaggerated shapes that i love, and Em still gets so much use out of her pierrot tops (one and two) that i could just keep making those and be set. but i get a total kick out of this dresshiki and think it’s great that the charlie can make a darn cute boy shirt, too.

so yeah, it was fun for day 3 to try another new pattern, experiment with colors combos i’ve never sewn (orange isn’t my fave, sorry to say…but i do like making something other than pink!), and give my little gal something she had a hand in designing.

it has sparkly buttons, but she wouldn’t hold still enough for a photo of them. that’s a good sign.

KCWC spring 2012: day 2:: stripey sailboat top

April 25, 2012October 16, 201329 Comments

a couple of my goals this week are to sew for both my son and my daughter, and to use both new and familiar patterns. yesterday’s was for her and new, so this is for him and familiar. it’s also a good layering piece, since our springtimes tend to be sunny and 75 one day, and rainy and 50 the next. gotta layer up.

the pattern is the oliver + s sailboat top, in 2T (his 12-18 month one is getting too small, and the 18-24 month measurements didn’t look much bigger). i REALLY love this pattern. the fabric is a men’s sweater from old navy in kind of an interesting vintage-y sweatshirt knit material. it actually frays a bit, so i serged everything on the inside. i applied interfacing under the buttonholes as instructed, and otherwise just sewed it with a longer straight stitch, since it’s a loose-fitting top with a neck opening that doesn’t need to stretch. this top works really great with a heavier interlock type knit, IMHO.

after seeing jessica’s awesome yellow topstitching for her winning PR&P design this week, i decided to go nuts and add yellow topstitching and buttonholes, with minty green buttons. it’s not a color combo i’ve used before, but i LOVE it on him! it feels both neutral and fun.

the top is too big and the sleeves are way too long, but that’s what he grew out of first on his first sailboat top, so i left them. this kid grows really fast and the wide hems actually look pretty cute cuffed up, especially while he’s doing mischievous boyish things like trying to squeeze himself behind the fireplace screen…such a toddler now!

up tomorrow – a new pattern for her!

KCWC spring 2012: day 1:: knot shorts

April 24, 2012May 17, 201224 Comments

first up this week for KCWC, a tutorial by the woman herself, meg “elsie marley” spaeth! i bookmarked her knot shorts tutorial almost exactly a year ago during grosgrain’s free pattern month, and i wanted to make it SO BADLY! but at the time i didn’t feel i had the sewing prowess to create my own pattern. after my stint in PR&P, i knew i could handle it.

the problem was, my sewing mojo was WAY off last night. i made just about every mistake possible, sewed the inseams wrong, tried to fully line them but didn’t think far enough ahead and had to change them to facings, etc. even though i stumbled at every turn, they still came together super quickly and turned out pretty darn cute! oh and she likes them. they’re good for practicing her new skill – headstands. 🙂

fabric is chambray from joann and pink voile from this shirt, almost a copy of the fabrics meg used. i highly doubt our daughters will run into each other on the street, so i think it’s acceptable.

see you tomorrow for day 2! woot!

KCWC & SF

April 19, 2012October 3, 20129 Comments

i was sneaky. when i made Rae’s flashback skinny tee for my niece, it was to practice the pattern so i could remix it into a dress for a guest post over at elsie marley! HA! my post is up today – check it out here.

you guys are all signed up for Meg’s Spring Kids Clothes Week Challenge next week, right? it’s one of the most motivational blog events out there, especially for those of us that have lots of projects piled up in our heads and just can’t seem to ever shorten that list. it’s a great way to pound out a nice base of clothes for your kids during the transitioning seasons. during fall 2011 KCWC, i completed 5 items in 6 days! it felt great. here’s what i sewed:

hopscotch skirt | polka dot PJs | rosy pierrot | sailboat cords | angelina tutu

i’m not sure how much i’ll be able to accomplish this go around, but maybe i’ll surprise myself! i’ll likely be spending a good portion of the weekend tracing and cutting to get ready. i’m hoping to try the new oliver + s croquet dress, sew at least one pair of pants for my growing boy, and i really want to try some pinned-long-ago tutorials from blogs i love. but that could all change…we’ll see what happens!

and hey guess what else? this week i got to visit one of my favorite cities, san francisco, to take a 2 day class for work. most of the time i was stuck on the 21st floor of a high rise office building, but i DID have an evening free, and i made the most of it! i met up with cherie of you & mie (she’s a new blogger on the rise with the coolest taste – i mean look at this adorableness and all of this!). we had emailed a back and forth a bit, and she was super awesome in person – there was no lack of conversation in the 5 hours we hung out, and we’d never even met before! i guess when you’re both sewing/blog nerds there’s lots to talk about. 😉

we drooled all over four floors of amazing fabric at britex (look at all those rows of liberty!!!), had a lovely french dinner, then wandered around the city hunting for dessert. it was wonderful. i wasn’t too thrilled about being away from the kids, but meeting cherie gave me something to look forward to. thanks so much for making my trip a great one, cherie! i want to move to your city!!

i bought a couple things at britex…now to figure out how to work them into KCWC! can’t wait!

littlepinkkcwcbutton

kcwc fall 2011: day 6

October 15, 2011October 29, 201319 Comments

here it is, my fifth and final planned project for the fall kids clothes week challenge. this tutu is a major component of Em’s halloween costume, angelina ballerina (that’s the best image on the least annoying site i could find). she was not into modeling for me after her nap today…

…so if you think she’s always happily willing to pose for my photos, trust me that is not the case. even for a pink angelina tutu!

the pattern is from “little things to sew.” i’ve now made 5 out of the 20 projects in that book (that’s the highest completion rate of any of my sewing books – definitely worth the money!). this one was especially user-friendly. i had made a tutu once before, and remember that cutting the many strips of tulle was an irritating nightmare. the method in LTTS has you fold over large pieces of tulle, gather, and sew onto a ribbon waistband that ties in the back. it was frustration-free and turned out great. i also love the suggestion of layering multiple colors of tulle. i started with burgundy at the bottom, then medium pink, then three pieces of light pink. it created a pretty, subtle ombré effect.

i also made a felt rose to clip to the waistband, just like angelina has.

to make the rose, i cut out a circle, then started cutting it in an imperfect spiral until i got to the center. i shaped it into a flower, hot glued it around the back to keep it in place, then glued on the leaves and a small circle with two slits to thread an alligator clip through. i’ve seen the circle flower method floating around the internet, and my mom used it to make some paper flowers recently, too. nice and easy.

i’m kind of glad she wasn’t in a modeling mood today, actually – it’ll leave a little more room for surprise when the rest of the costume is pulled together. 😉

not going to sign off on KCWC just yet, as i have a “bonus project” that may or may not come together before the end. we’ll see! happy final days of the challenge, everybody!