raindrop divided basket

March 29, 2013March 29, 201319 Comments

my cousin is having a baby girl, and we had a sweet little family baby shower recently. i suspected she’d be the type of gal i am – not afraid of a little pink, but wanting it to be balanced out by other colors, not too prissy. and my friend Anna had recently sent me her new divided basket pattern, which i was excited to try out at the first opportunity. this was the result:

i loooooove this pattern! it looks way more complicated than it actually is. when i first saw it, i thought it must have all sorts of crazy stuff in there to make it hold its shape, that it might take forever to sew, etc., but Gail assured me that was not the case. she’s right – it’s totally simple and quick (check out the two she made).

my main fabric is droplets in ivory by tula pink (hushabye collection). it’s been in my stash since 2009; i’d always planned pajama pants for Em but I love it as a basket, and figured it’d go with a lot of room decor possibilities. the pink binding and handles are batiste, and the lining is denyse schmidt for joann.

the divider sews in with a method i’d never used before, and would never have figured out on my own, but it was easy. and man it’s a cute and practical little basket when it’s done.

yeah so i basically finished this and wanted to make another one immediately (though i haven’t had time yet). i just keep looking around my house noticing where a divided basket (in different fabrics) might nestle in and manage all the loose STUFF we have.

and for a baby gift, it’s perfect – diapers, some lap pads, some washcloths, some disposable pads for the diaper bag…all fit in quite nicely.

i like going part-homemade, part store bought. less pressure.

and there ya have it – everyone should make a divided basket (or five)!

happy Easter, all! i didn’t make Em a new dress because she has millions. i might still make a little bow tie or something for O but we’ll see. if i do, i’ll be sure to show you. 😉

jackson pollock smock frock & japanese sewing books

March 25, 2013March 27, 201349 Comments

i’m starting off the week with a guest post and a sew along together!

first, the guest post. Cherie of You & Mie, a good friend (we’ve met in person – TWICE!) and an amazing blogger (see awesome tutorials), is putting on her first ever series! it’s aptly named the Japanese Sewing Book Series and if you follow along, her guests will walk you through the entire process of finding, deciphering, and sewing from Japanese pattern books from start to finish! she’s got an awesome lineup – i’m the obvious lightweight of this group, lemme tell ya.

anyway, my post on the basics of Japanese pattern books – where to buy them, how to determine sizing (including a conversion chart), and the general structure of the books – is up today! go check it out!

Cherie asked us all to sew a project as a companion piece to our posts, and i decided to sew the apron from Carefree Clothes for Girls by Junko Okawa- it’s the best intro to Japanese pattern books because it’s written in English (no excuses!). and because i also wanted to sew along with the “art inspired” theme for the first week of Project Run & Play All-Stars, i went ahead and splattered it with paint a la Jackson Pollock!

i sewed a size 4, which fits her now! last time i sewed from this book, i sized it down a bit and it was still too big. but now it’s perfect, which makes me want to sew even more of these. because if i ask her to jump and she does THIS, it makes me want to sew a million:

dance outside barefoot? sure!

anyway…so the Jackson Pollock part. i really love the the first theme for the first week of this season of Project Run & Play – “Inspired by Art,” and had a whole bunch of ideas swirling around my head. but since i knew i’d be sewing for Cherie’s series too, i quickly narrowed down my artist to Jackson Pollock and decided to splatter some Essex yarn dyed black linen with fabric paint. i didn’t do any practice runs, i just experimented as i splattered with hot pink, metallic gold, and a little white.

the method i found to work was to dilute the fabric paint a little with water, then sort of flick it up the side of a tilted custard cup onto the fabric with a brush. just dribbling didn’t work so well. i started in the center and splattered outward, so the top of the apron has just tiny dots of paint but the hemline is pretty covered (and stiff). i’m curious how it’s going to wash up…but i love the a-line shape on her and the stiffness only helps that. i topstitched it with metallic gold thread, which she didn’t hold still long enough to get a good photo of.

i also made her leggings! i fiiiiiinally put together my Go To Leggings pattern that i’ve heard so many good things about, and i loved it! of everything i sew for Em, what she really needs is basic leggings to fit her growing legs, and i’ve been meaning to make some for months now.

these are made out of really soft stretch lace from Mill End and are quite see through, so she’ll be wearing them with longer skirts/dresses in the future. she loves them though, so much so that i had to hide them from her until the photoshoot! i love how the waistband is sewn, so simple and fast but really pro-seeming, and i’m excited to make more now that the ONE PATTERN PIECE is all cut out and ready to go. sheesh, took me long enough!

we were over at the beach for my dad’s birthday weekend, and both kids just loved being there. we got some nice weather, stayed in a beautiful place, and had a lot of fun. the view was pretty amazing.

be sure to head over to You & Mie to check out my guest post – i’m so excited for the rest of the guests this week – i’m a big fan of each one of them and am ready to be rekindle my Japanese sewing romance that has laid dormant for a couple years.

and i’m soooo looking forward to what the PR&P All-Stars sew this week!! i have lots of friends in that group, and i know they’re revved up.

have a great week!

PS – Follow my blog with Bloglovin

submarine pullover

March 20, 2013July 7, 201420 Comments

i’m happy to be the next stop on the blog tour for Pattern Anthology, a really cool collaboration effort between a group of four talented independent patternmakers. when i was invited to participate, i saw that Shauna of Shwin Designs was one of the designers. i quickly signed up to sew one of her patterns, because i had never tried one before! i thought it’d be fun to sew for my little guy, so i chose her submarine pullover (affiliate link) to review today.

the submarine pullover is a cute little layering hoodie that closes with a button placket. the hood is lined but the rest of the pullover isn’t, so it’s actually a quicker-than-you-might-expect-it-to-be sew. it’s a well-known fact that Shauna is a massive Beatles fan, so i couldn’t resist adding a little YELLOW topstitching to the SUBMARINE, ifyoucatchmydrift! the added topstitching did increase my sewing time, but it still wasn’t too bad overall, especially since i’m not a very experienced placket-sewer and her instructions for that were very easy to follow.

my main fabric is a nice drapey seersucker i got at mill end, and the perfect little whale print from jay-cyn’s storyboek line for birch fabrics was sent to me by Jess. i could never part with a fabric as cute as this, but i guess she doesn’t have a boy to sew for (at least for now), so i gladly accepted her generous offering. thanks Jess, it’s so wonderful! this color seems to be out of stock online but there’s a little of the blue version left at fabricworm.

the whale print was too cute to use only as a hood lining, so i also used it for the casing at the waist, and bound the sleeves rather than hemming them. it’s also hiding inside the pockets, which i constructed a little differently than the pattern (sewed rightsides together before topstitching them to the hoodie).

submarine pullover

i had a button conundrum on this one. you need fairly large buttons to be in proportion with the placket, but i didn’t have any in my stash. i hit up my favorite button vendor and found two contenders – these awesome dark blue ones with “grains of sand” inlay, and cool red-orange ones that added a fun pop of color and really stood out. i was stumped, so i put it to my instagram peeps to decide, and it was a tie vote! i went with my gut and chose the blue, and i’m happy i did. classic. beachier.

submarine pullover

i still added color with the yellow topstitching, which i first did here and love. oh and his ever-present green H&M pants. i’m gonna hate it when he grows out of these, they’re so fun…and somehow go with everything?

i sewed the 2T pullover, and it fits O really well. it’s just a tad difficult to pull on since the fabric has no stretch, so size up if you’re in between. once we get it on, it’s totally fine. and his head is huge but the hood fits him really well! his old style TOMS, on the other hand, did not fit well. so he took them off and immediately placed his feet in some mud. boys.

the entire beachy pattern collection was on sale through March 24 from Pattern Anthology, but is now available individually at Go To Patterns (affiliate link). check it out!

he’s ready for a long walk on the beach. oh and quick side note – i had brought the in-process pullover with me to pick the buttons out, and one of the sales gals said “that is so cute! i wish there were patterns like this when my son was little!” i love what pattern makers like Shauna (and many others!) are doing for boy sewing – designing cute, modern clothes that aren’t boring at all. we’re in a golden age!

the tour stops have been awesome so far, so if you haven’t seen them popping up around blogland already, be sure to browse the links below…and head over to Go To Patterns (affiliate link) or the individual designers’ shops to nab these great summer patterns!

then go ahead and plan a little trip to the coast – these patterns are gonna make you want to.

deer for days geranium dress

March 14, 2013March 14, 201315 Comments

bringing home a post i did for StraightGrain’s weekly “Kids Clothes – Belgian Style” series. i kicked off the series a few weeks ago, and since my post, there have been three super fantastic guest posts you should check out – Suburbia Soup, Crafterhours, and Groovybaby…and mama! i’ve loved every one and can’t wait to see what the next guests have in store.

anyway, i just had to have this deer geranium dress living on my own blog – it still cracks me up every time i see it. Made by Rae Patterns is a sponsor now too, which i’m totally psyched out of my mind about, since i sew her patterns all the time and love them to bits! she’s a huge role model and i’m so happy to have her. welcome, Rae! 🙂

***

Hello StraightGrain readers! I’m especially excited that An invited me to be a guest in this series – why? Because I had actually made this dress a couple days before she even emailed me, inspired by An herself! I laughed out loud when I got her invitation to participate, it was so perfectly-timed. Talk about serendipity.

When I saw An’s deer dress, I thought it was pretty much genius. And then she made her cow dress and it was immediately elevated to “must make” status for me. I LOVED it.

Honestly, this type of pastoral/photographic print is in the section of the fabric store I tended to give a wide berth, assuming it was for hunters and people looking to make curtains for their cabins in the woods. Never in a million years would I have had the foresight to gravitate toward a print with deer all over it to make a dress for my little gal, but BEHOLD! An had me doing just that. It’s not the type of look you see in America too often, but I’m hoping we can change that because it’s fantastic.

I have the same philosophy as An where I think a loud print pairs best with a simple silhouette, so I used the Made by Rae Geranium Dress pattern, which is really well-written and versatile. I made it in a 3T with a 4T skirt – options are scoop neck, faux cap sleeve, pleated skirt. My daughter loves it.

As I browsed An’s Kid’s Clothes Belgian Style Pinterest board, I noticed a few trends in styling – colorful belts, rain boots, brightly colored tights, white backgrounds. I had no idea that Belgians had such a specific style, but it’s so inspirational to me – I love the playfulness and lighthearted attitude of the outfits, which have very classic silhouettes. I want to make more!

Living in a pretty gray and rainy place (Portland, Oregon, USA), people tend to layer up around here a lot, so it’s especially fun to add bright pops of color to the mix. I made the belt in golden shot cotton, left over from my daughter’s Sunshine Dress. It has sunshiny buttons, too.

I got my fabric locally, and the selvedge says “Sanctuary by Wade Butler for Wilmington Prints.”

To play with the forest-y theme even more, I lined it with a woodgrain print (Tina Givens for Free Spirit). I think kid’s clothes should have an element of fun to them, which is why I’m falling so hard for Belgian style.

Thanks so much for having me, An!

sugarplum fairy dress

March 11, 2013March 19, 201327 Comments

this dress is possibly Em’s favorite dress that i’ve ever made her.

really. if this thing is clean, and in her closet, and there’s an occasion, she’ll put it on. but i guess it’s totally reasonable of her, since i basically made every decision about it by answering the question “what would Em like most?”

pink? check. purple? check. polka dots? check. ribbon? check. twirl? mega check.

i actually made it for our early december trip to the nutcracker. if i remember correctly, a night before the performance i got a bee in my bonnet to make her a “sugar plum fairy dress” and i just dropped everything and went for it. the sugarplum fairy is her favorite character in the ballet, and what could be more perfect than see kate sew’s adorable sugarplum dress pattern, i ask you?! NOTHING.

seriously you guys, this thing is such a cute pattern to put together. i just loved it as i sewed, it’s super adorable and no-fuss (that means no closures – it ties at the shoulders with ribbon!). i love the flutter sleeves, i love the peter pan collar, i love the twirly skirt. i almost couldn’t stand how cute every little part of it was. i made it in a 4T which was actually a mistake on my part – i never sew 4T for her and i’m not sure what i was thinking, the bodice is way too big. i had to put a pleat at the collar and at the back neck to get it to fit, which bugs me but SHE DOES NOT CARE.

the pink bodice fabric is batiste, the purple collar and sleeves are shot cotton. the skirt is the best part – it’s nani iro double gauze.

i meant to make something for myself from it, but you know how it goes – it was perfect for this dress so i cut it. i got it on sale at bolt, and i found what might be the same colorway (but it’s hard to tell) online at the village haberdashery, and the blue/yellow version at miss matatabi and nido.

since the waist was a bit big, i handsewed a mini ball trim to the seam for fun (and functional!) cinching. adding those special details are the best parts of sewing, i think.

sugarplum fairy dress

this one might hold the record for longest period of time between making and blogging so far – made in early december, blogged in mid march. it’s not for lack of being loved and worn – sometimes the most loved garments are the hardest to blog since they’re so often in use! and this dress looks more springy than christmasy anyway, right? since i made it too big, it’s got plenty of growing room. WIN.

the sugarplum dress and top pattern by see kate sew runs sizes 3m – 6yrs and would be the perfect little Easter dress, right?

*rainbow streamer by sarah’s silks*

*kate gifted me the sugarplum pattern because she’s a sweetheart – check out all of her patterns here. this post contains affiliate links. none of those statements detract from the fact that i love this pattern to bits and, now that i’ve finally blogged it, am itching to make another*