popping in to say i’m over at see kate sew today for her oh-so-fun RUFFLES 2012 series with a tutorial on how to make a super comfy ruffletastic dress – one that does not involve gathering, a ruffle foot, or even hemming! say whaaaaat? come check it out!
i’ll be back later today with my day 3 KCWC post…assuming i can get photos after work tonight. have a great thursday!
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!
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!
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!
soooo….remember my sheet as top? it ended up winning reader’s choice for week 2 “top of tops” over on made by rae! yahoo! thanks so much to rae, the judges that selected me, and everyone who voted. i didn’t make that top with a hope of winning anything – i was just testing my limits, excited to have a kick in the pants to sew for myself by one of my favorite bloggers. but i must say, never having won a thing like this before, i’m kind of giddy! my prize is $30 to modern fabric studio, and there’s so much awesome fabric over there i’m not sure how i’m going to spend my winnings! don’t worry, i’m sure i’ll figure it out. 😉 the judge’s choice this week is my pal sophie! funny thing – in her tribal trending tank post she mentions MY wiksten tank, and in my sheet as top post i mention her pussy bow blouse! i guess it’s kind of perfect that we ended up top of tops together this week…and we live halfway around the globe from each other! man, isn’t the internet cool?
did you see that season 4 of project run & play is now underway with a whole new group of fabulous designers? it’s so fun to watch these gals compete, now knowing what it really takes to execute these types of incredible looks. always fun to be inspired, too. week 1 was a remix of dana’s circle skirt which i’ve used quite a few times for my twirly girl, and the entries were so great. check out the rest of this season’s topics here (MOVIES! COLOR CHALLENGE! so jealous!). i plan to sew along in a “just for fun” capacity this season whenever the inspiration strikes and i have the time (and i hope some of my season 3 peeps join in too, wink wink!!). check out the rest of the sewalongers in the PR&P flickr pool.
now one kind of annoying piece of business. i use flickr to host the images for this blog, and apparently flickr and pinterest are working out some kinks right now. i found out that most of the recent images on my site suddenly turned “unpinnable” on thursday, the day i posted a tutorial (of course)! i think it’s working now so a few photos from each post are pinnable, but please let me know if you ever have trouble with it. i’m a big pinterest fan – i’ve been on there since the very early days (2010!) and it’s great for keeping track of inspiration, recipes, and tutorials. i crop my kids’ faces out so i’m fine with anything on this site being pinned. i guess i just wanted to put that out there – i like pinterest, i’m not trying to hamper pinning, and please let me know if you want to pin from my site and can’t. if you’d like to follow me, my pinboards are here!
finally, the photos you’ve been seeing throughout this post are of the superhero cape i sent off to willa, daughter of reader jill, who won my first blogiversary giveaway a few weeks back! i sewed it in willa’s (errrrr jill’s) favorite colors and topstitched it with silver thread, which looks pretty darn cool when it catches the light. enjoy your cape, willa! Em tested it out for you and it flies just fine.
that’s it! thanks. stuff just had to be said. i feel better now.
skirt as top 