elbow patch tutorial

September 12, 2012November 28, 201212 Comments

i first posted this tutorial for elsie marley‘s fall 2011 kid’s clothes week challenge (right here), and now that fall is right around the corner, i figured it’s an appropriate time to bring it home!

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Hi, I’m Kristin from skirt as top and I’m here today to talk about elbow patches! I’ve been spotting lots of elbow patches on adult shirts and sweaters heading into this fall, and I love the trend. I thought it could be fun to add them to homemade kids’ clothes for a little “mini-professor” style, too. Problem is, kids’ sleeves are very narrow and that means it’s pretty much impossible to sew the patches on after the garment is already completed. That makes finding that right placement for your elbow patches a bit tricky. In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to add properly placed elbow patches when you’re making a shirt from scratch.

MATERIALS:

Tailor’s chalk or water-soluble marker
Clear ruler
Elbow patch pattern (draw an oval shape onto a piece of paper – mine is about 2.75″ tall x 2.25″ wide and works for about 6-12 month – 3T sizes, though you can make it whatever size you like)
Cut (but now sewn) sleeve pieces from your shirt or sweater pattern (shown is the Oliver + S sailboat top. Maybe try Dana’s free 90 minute shirt tutorial!)
Scraps of fabric for the patches (try a small floral for girls, or suede if you’re daring!)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Wrangle your kid while they’re wearing a long-sleeved shirt from their wardrobe. Mark an X on their elbow with chalk or water-soluble marker.

2. Take the existing shirt off of your child, measure from about .5″ above the shoulder (to account for the seam allowance) down to the X that you marked earlier. Write down this measurement (for my 10 month old, it was 5.5″). We’ll call this the “Elbow Measurement” because I’m super original.

3. Go to one of your new garment’s sleeve piece. Fold it in half to determine the center line, and press. Mark your seam allowance from the cut side of the sleeve with water-soluble pen or tailor’s chalk, then find the center point between the folded center and the seam allowance mark and draw a vertical line (just guess approximately where the patch will hit on the vertical axis).

4. Measure down from the shoulder edge along the vertical line you marked in step 3. Mark your sleeve with a horizontal line at your Elbow Measurement (remember mine was 5.5″) so your markings form a +. I shifted my ruler over to the edge for clarity, but you should line it up through the middle of the ruler to make the + shape.

5. Trace the patch pattern onto your scrap, cut out the patches, and find the center of each patch by folding it into quarters and pressing slightly. Apply fusible web if desired (the patch is essentially an appliqué). Match the center of the folds on one patch with the + marking on your sleeve and pin into place.

6. Lay your other sleeve piece down, aligning both sleeve edges side by side. Using your clear ruler as a guide, place the second patch on its sleeve to mirror the one you already pinned on. Make sure they are mirror images so you don’t apply the patch to the front of a sleeve! Pin the second patch into place. Be generous with pinning if you didn’t use fusible web.

7. Sew around the edge of each patch using a straight, zig zag, or blanket type stitch. I used the blanket type stitch here (number 11 on my machine).

8. Repeat for the other sleeve. Your patches are on! Finish your garment per the pattern instructions.

I hope this helps you add a little extra punch to your little one’s long sleeved shirts and cozy fall sweaters.

Thanks so much for having me, Meg, and happy KCWC sewing, everybody!

talkin’ ’bout my best friend (over at sew together)

September 8, 2012October 15, 20128 Comments

i’m always curious how people learned to sew. after my mom got me started, i credit the majority of my sewing education to oliver + s patterns!

the lovely and talented maryanne and caroline of sew together invited me to participate in their “best friend” series, where lots of great bloggers have been sharing their best friends in the sewing world. it’s been a fun series to follow along with and today, i’m up!

for my guest post i ended up writing a 3 year retrospective (with lots of PRE-BLOG FLICKR ONLY projects included)! it was fun making photo collages of pretty much every oliver + s garment i’ve ever sewn – and believe me, there are quite a few!

head on over to sew together to check out my post!

side note: i discovered sew together during season 4 of project run & play; they make gorgeously crafted, classic clothing and i was always so impressed with their work during the season (especially their blue twirly dress and intricately color blocked pinky promise dresses). they got fourth place, the same place i finished season 3, which is really hard – you get SO CLOSE to the finale, but fall just short. i hold a special place in my heart for every fourth place finisher now.

hope you’re having a great weekend!

PS – if you caught my blog post title reference, you win the day.

PPS – season 5 of project run & play starts this week! are you sewing along?

a grape dress & a strawberry backpack

September 4, 2012September 4, 201255 Comments

first day of pre-k for Em! i somehow had the foresight to take today and tomorrow off of work; if i hadn’t i surely would’ve been so distracted i wouldn’t have gotten anything done anyway. my husband was able to go in late this morning too, so we all walked her to school which was great! she skipped…SKIPPED to school. she was SO excited.

i was actually really nervous about today. she’s my first little one going to school, and i just have all sorts of feelings about how i don’t want school to mess with her. i had a rough time with being teased and just feeling constantly awkward in middle school especially, but i’ve been telling myself she’s only in pre-K, the school is full of really nice people, she’s there with three of her cousins (one is even in her class) and she already knows her teacher because her son goes to the same babysitter…she’ll be fine. she loves learning and playing with other kids her age, so she’s totally ready for school; it’s just that i’m not quite there yet!

sometimes when i’m stressed, i make myself super busy so i don’t have time to think about what’s stressing me out. for instance, i decided she needed a handmade backpack last week and let her pick out the material. i figured, once again, if she will be wearing a uniform, she needs a super Em-like backpack. she chose this very cool strawberry laminated cotton by timeless treasures, with pink piping and a pink zipper.

it’s the Made by Rae toddler backpack pattern. i enlarged it to school size per Rae’s instructions, basted canvas to the laminated cotton for structure, added a split pocket in the front, a patch pocket on the inside, and fully lined it in this green wicker print by michael miller that i’ve had for ages. i sewed everything except the lining with my walking foot, which worked great.

the backpack is not a quick sew as i mentioned before, but it is SO satisfying when it’s done!

since we were out of town for the labor day weekend, i didn’t finish the backpack until monday afternoon as naptime ended (well, aside from hand sewing the lining). but on my way home…i had also decided i needed to make her a dress for her first day (she doesn’t have to wear a uniform for the first two weeks, which gives me more time to procrastinate/sew).

grape dress and strawberry backpack

i stayed up until almost 2am finishing the backpack and making the dress – so worth it. i poured a lot of love into the dress and made it just for her to feel good on her first day. it’s in pink and purple, her favorite colors, with a full twirly skirt, pink buttons, pink bow, and pink trim! i had even picked up a couple H&M flower clips for her hair.

grape dress and strawberry backpack

the pattern is my own design, the same one i made for her amelie dress (which she loves) but with the back tie and a few tweaks. shirring wasn’t working for me last night and i had wanted to try a tie anyway, so that helped take away some of the boxiness while keeping it comfy. i think i might make this available as a free pattern/tutorial sometime in the future, if people are interested..

the tie is bias tape, the bottom band is shot cotton, and the fabric is kona cotton…i really love how it looks on her and of course she loves the colors.

she had a great first day at school (they played dress up, had story time, took a walking tour of the school…important stuff). it was strange for me just being home with O all morning – I haven’t spent much one-on-one time with him like that for a long time, since Em is usually around! neat to have that time with him now that he’s really starting to turn into a little chatterbox. the one time i teared up was when he asked “where Em go?” this morning! argh!

when we went to pick her up and i told her he had missed her, she gave him a “big squeeze” to make him feel better. she also called him her best friend. seriously, it was a heartmelter. 🙂

hope all you mamas sending your little ones off to school are making it through okay!

elephant balloon skirt

August 28, 2012August 28, 201226 Comments

elephant skirt

so i was talking on sunday about how Em likes most of the things I sew for her…as long as they’re dresses (thanks for commiserating with me, by the way)! and remember how she needs to start wearing a uniform to school, so i need her to wear more than just dresses? well, this was my test to see if i could get her at least wearing skirts again.

looks like she likes it, right? it’s got an elephant (her favorite animal), it’s got pink (her favorite color), it’s got sparkly silver thread, it’s comfy…gotta be a winner…right?

wrong.

she doesn’t like it…because it’s a skirt.

this darn thing has been sitting waiting for a photoshoot for THREE WEEKS and she hasn’t wanted to put it on. i finally bribed her to wear it for these photos. i mean…seriously?

this was my inspiration, an adorable print called jumbo bubble by terry fam, which i spotted and immediately bought for her revamped bedroom. i appliquéd my design onto the kona snow skirt (loosely following the lazy days skirt tutorial with no ribbon hem). instead of having the elephant blowing the bubble like gum, i cut out a pink balloon and used metallic silver thread as the string. i thought it’d be a winner, the skirt to get her wearing skirts again, but i was wrong…for now anyway. she’ll probably insist on wearing it the minute it’s too small.

four year olds. opinionated little things.

anyway, here’s a slightly wider shot of her new pink bedroom walls. she likes those! once i make a new quilt for her bed, i’ll do a full room tour. honestly i didn’t expect to like the pink as much as i do; i’ve been dodging her requests for so long. but heck, it’s just paint and she really loves it, so i just needed to let go and embrace it.

the poor kid doesn’t realize the sea of navy blue, white, and khaki she’s about to plunge into come school-time, so at least she has her pink retreat at home! and if the skirt ends up getting gifted to a younger friend/cousin later, that’s fine with me!

i’m swooning and i need advice

August 22, 2012August 24, 201247 Comments

probably breaking some major sewing blogger rule here by posting two projects in a row made from the same fabric, but i need your help!

we recently painted Em’s room the pink she has been asking for FOREVER. in doing so, i decided she needs a new quilt for her bed, because her old one (my first quilt ever that i was so proud of) was rejected. she said it wasn’t “cozy” and threw it to the ground even if i just folded it at the foot of the bed!

boo, Em! booooo.

i gave it to my sister, and i think my niece is much more appreciative of it. harrumph!

so anyway, i decided to make her a new quilt, which will be all pink solids and backed with flannel so it’s cozy to the touch. i decided it’d be neat to do just one star block on a field of pink. i purchased the ever-popular swoon pattern and then decided that since i’ve never done a complicated pieced block before, i should make one for practice. that’s where this one comes in. i made it from washi two scraps of dear stella, kona snow, and some peach shot cotton (note: mixing shot cotton in with quilting cotton is rough!).

here is my practice swoon block. it’s big – 24″ square!

since i’m not much of a quilter, i kind of hated cutting all the pieces and grumbled at how long it was taking to make the HSTs and my first flying geese ever. but once i started putting the components together, i got super addicted to making it! it was so fun to see the block take shape like a puzzle. however, i see now why quilting bloggers often post just a block at a time rather than only showing finished quilts; they’re a lot of work!

as i hung this block up to take photos, i really liked how it looked against the charcoal wall in our bedroom (my husband painted it one day when i was out at my parents’ house with the kids – it was something i’d wanted to try for a while and he did it for me as a mother’s day surprise – i LOVE surprises and i love my wall!). so anyway, i think i want to turn this block into a mini quilt and hang it as art in our room. he’s in favor of the idea too (good man).

questions for you (especially the quilters out there):

how do i quilt it? i have a free motion foot but i’m not too great at it, so straight line ideas are preferred.
should i add a border, or just bind it?
what color binding?

i’ll definitely show you once i’m done with it…but i need to get to work on some school sewing first! Em starts pre-K right after Labor Day!!