Operation Sewing Room, Part 1

This weekend was spent clearing out the room below, B's former nursery.

She's been sharing a room with M for a little over a month now and sleeping in a twin bed.  The toddler bed was still being used for naps though since putting M and B together to nap would result with neither sleeping.  However, M is fast approaching her 5th birthday and doesn't consistently take a nap anymore.  Little by little, I had been moving pieces of furniture out.  The changing table was passed on to friends who are having a baby.  The dresser has been relocated to the guest room.  Friday, we bought a metal bed frame so that we could use the back of the toddler bed for a full size bed headboard.  That too is now in the guest room. 

The room is not very big.  It measures approx. 11' x 7'.  There's now a dresser/vanity (part of a furniture set that was given to us) on the wall where the changing table was located.  I've filled several of the drawers with part of my fabric stash.  We also moved an antique sewing table/machine to the wall where the crib/toddler bed was.  We received the sewing machine and table when dh's grandmother passed away in 1999.  I've never used the machine but have plans too.  There's all kinds of neat attachments (ruffler, binding foot,etc.) that I don't have for my very basic Brother sewing machine.  The recliner is still in the room as I don't really have anyplace else to put it right now. 

I have yet to move any of the crap stuff from my current sewing area...the dining room. 

I'm hoping to chip away at that mess this week.  I'll post picures when it's finished!

Wearing the Pants

I'm getting ready to head out to the aquarium with my 2 little girls so not much time to post this morning.  I wanted to put up the pictures of P and K wearing the pants before I forgot.  Of course, I still haven't hemmed them.  I did sew some last night but I was working on a pair of gingham shorts for B to match the popover top I made a few weeks ago. 

The Boy

The Girl

K must have shrunk since Tuesday because I swear the pants needed to be lengthened.  Or maybe she doesn't have them pulled up as high!

Sandbox Pants

I am delighted with the fit of these pants.  I measured P and opted to go for a size 7.  He's built much like his older sister...tall and thin.  The pants look great on him and are the perfect width. 

They still need to be hemmed and to have buttons sewn on the back pockets. 

The length of the pants was a nice surprise.  Too often I have to add several inches to the bottom of a pants patterns to get the correct length.  These were actually a little too long!  Another surprise...these pants fit K too!  They would need to be about an inch longer so that the pants could be hemmed but other than that she could wear them too. 

This is a great basic pattern and easy to sew.  I can see making another pair for P.  They'd also work well for a pair of shorts.  Hopefully, I can get these hemmed today and get a few pictures of the pants on the boy.

Ahoy! Rosalind

I did end up making a fabric store run on Thursday to purchase thread that matches the greenish twill I'm going to use for P's pants.  I didn't have any luck finding a cotton woven boy print so I bought a solid that matches.  Hopefully, tomorrow I'll be able to start sewing the pants.

I spent this afternoon working on the Ahoy! shorts.  I've made 2 pairs of these shorts previously and it was no big deal.  However, this time around I had decided to use up some leftover heavier weight denim from K's Minna skirt.  I do not recommend doing that!  After running into too many problems trying to sew through multiple layers of the denim, I scrapped them.  I don't think they would have been very comfortable anyhow.

I did finish the pair of pink twill ones.  I even figured out how to use the buttonholer on my machine!lol  In the 10+ years that I have had my machine, I'd never even looked at the instructions for sewing buttonholes.  Usually, I use my mom's machine.  It's computerized and oh so easy.  It took me an hour or so of playing around but now I know how.

B in Ahoy! shorts and Rosalind T-shirt

Yes, I realize the shirt doesn't technically match the shorts.  It looks okay in the photo...the flowers are really red not pink in real life.  But since I was having B try on the shorts I figured I might as well put the shirt on her.  I think the shirt will fit M better since she is a little wider through the shoulders.  On B, the neckline isn't lying flat.

The shorts are not perfect by any means.  I had the button holes centered but they slipped a little and my top stitching isn't always straight.  They also need a wash to remove the markings and a thorough loose thread cleaning.  Which reminds me of a little trick my mom taught me...Keep one of those lint/pet hair rollers handy in your sewing room.  They're great for removing all those loose threads.

Rosalind T-shirt and Pants for P

I grabbed a knit from my stash to make a shirt for one of the little girls before heading to my parents' yesterday.  It's one I picked up from Jo-Ann's clearance aisle last year.  My original plan was to make another Piparminttu top using the print for the bottom, a yellow jersey for the top, and a dark blue ribbing for the neckline and armholes.  I still might but I decided to make the Rosalind t-shirt from the Summer 2009 Ottobre Design issue.  It's a quick and easy top and I like how the neckline is not as high as some of the other tops I've made.  Neither of the girls was interested in trying it on.

I also worked on 2 pairs of the Ahoy! shorts for the girls.  They are about half way done. 

The other package I received last week was an Oliver + S pattern and some white ribbing.  I'd like to make P pants from the pattern but ran into a  little dilemma.  My mom pulled some twill from her stash and I brought it home to work on here not even thinking about thread. 

I could use white or black...

...or should I wait until I can go to the fabric store and buy thread that matches?

The pattern also calls for lightweight fabric like quilting cottons, broadcloth, or poplin for the waistband and drawstring.  I don't have any "boy" fabrics like that and I don't think P would be so keen on flowers and pink so a trip to the fabric store is in my near future.  I re-measured P to make sure I got a good fit and it looks like a size 7 with added length will work.  He needs new pants and I hope he'll like these as they look like they'll be an easy sew.

Valentine's Day Party Finery

I've been feeling a bit blah this week and my previous enthusiasm regarding sewing Valentine tops for the girls has waned.  That happens quite frequently to me regarding holiday sewing/crafting.  I'll be all for it months before the holiday but the closer it gets the less I want to do it.  I promised M though so here they are... 

The top B is wearing is supposed to be for M as I made it a little bit longer.  Of course, I decided to add lace around the embellishment on the second top and M insisted on wearing that one. 

The pattern is the Fern & Faerie Peasant Smock  pattern.  It was the first non-Big 4 pattern I purchased and has been put to good use.  One of my first blog posts shows K in the larger sized smock, a smocked version of the smock (say that 5 times fast!), and a flannel long sleeve version.  I tweaked K's when it became too tight through the shoulders for her and made it into a dress for B this summer.  Looking through those early pictures from last year, I'm glad to report that my sewing has improved.  I'm a little embarassed over the quality of a few of those outfits!  All part of the learning process...

Waiting for a man (or 2)

According to my tracking #'s, I should have a visit from the UPS guy and the FedEx man today.  I ordered a ton of ribbing and jersey from fabric.com last week and a pattern and some fabric from Nancy's Notions.  I'm hoping the yucky weather (high winds and some snow) doesn't delay them.

Yesterday, I spent some time working on shirts for M and B for their spring/summer wardrobes.  I used a cute knit print that was part of my very first purchase from fabric.com last spring.  I love the print but was unsure what to make with it.  I was worried that a simple t-shirt would look too much like a pj top.  I opted to use Ottobre Design #4 01/07...a t-shirt with an envelope neck and puffed sleeves.

I like the shirts better on the girls rather than lying flat but they're napping (hopefully!).

This is my first time using that pattern and I'm not sure if I did it correctly or not as the neckline is really high.  I added seam allowances to the front and back pieces on the orange binding top but cut them off on the green.  Usually, OD has you not add seam allowances to a piece if you're going to be adding binding to it.  I admit that I didn't read the instructions real close but I don't think it said to leave off the SA.  ???  Either way, it didn't matter--the girls didn't complain about the neckline being too high/tight. 

My next sewing task is to make B's Valentine's Day top.  M's is done.  I found white heart buttons at my mom's to finish it off.  My mom's sewing room has almost as good a selection of notions as a fabric store does!  I'll post pictures on Friday of the little girls in their tops.

eta:  The UPS guy made a delivery and this is what 29 yards of fabric looks like...

And I was able to tear B away from watching Clifford to get a quick shot of her in the envelope t-shirt...

Pumpulipilvi Tunic- Muslin

She had recently woke from her nap and was still sleepy.

It seems the consensus on this top is that it runs big.  Keeping that in mind I traced off a 92 for M instead of her usual 98.  I have a print that I'm planning on using but I wanted to test drive the pattern first so this top was made out of a curtain panel that's been sitting in my repurpose bin for years.  It doesn't have elastic in the neckline yet and the sleeve edges and hem still need be done.  I tried doing a narrow zig-zag on my sewing machine to finish the hem but after breaking the thread twice and getting a wad of fabric stuck in the feed dogs I gave up.  I'll use my mom's serger tomorrow to finish it. 

It would have been cute to use a bright color thread while doing the shirring on the white fabric.  Of course, you'd have to make sure you kept your lines perfectly straight since it would show up.  I personally prefer the versions in the Ottobre Flickr Pool that were done using stripes and prints.  I'll do another one out of "real" fabric soon.

7 and 7

I logged on this morning to see that one of my fellow sewists has nominated me for a blogger award.

Thanks Millie!  If you haven't checked out her blog I highly recommend it.  She sews beautiful clothes for her children and herself.

So, apperently I'm supposed to tell you 7 things you might not know about me.  Shouldn't be hard since I don't mention too many personal things on this blog.  Here we go...

1.  I am a warm weather kind of girl.  The snow last weekend was nice while it lasted but as far as I'm concerned it can warm up into the 70s and stay that way!

2.  I have an irrational fear of sharks.  Dh gets after me because I panic every time we go surfing together if I see a shadow in the water.  It doesn't stop me from watching Shark Week on the Discovery channel though.:)

3.  Speaking of dh, I'm married to a man who is 12 years older than me. 

4.  I have 4 kids and would be fine with having more.  However, dh is definitely done so 4 is it.

5.  I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis when child #3 was a baby.  I'm lucky that the medication I'm on  is holding the disease in check for now and that I haven't experienced any joint damage yet.

6.  I took my horse to college with me.

7.  I hate chocolate.   One Halloween as a child, I ate too many chocolate candies and spent the rest of the night throwing up.  Since then even the smell of chocolate makes me gag. 

Another part of this award is that I need to nominate 7 fellow bloggers that I think are creative.  Here are my picks:

It's been a while since Amanda  has updated her blog (she's busy with 3 kids and school) but she's an amazing sewist and knitter.  I especially like her post on dyeing yarn.

Peachy is new to blogging and makes the most adorable outfits for her granddaughters.  Those are some lucky girls!

Christephi has been working on a mailbox and letters for her daughter to play with.   She's very creative and does more than just sew.

Kathy is working on an Ottobre SWAP for her daughters.  She has lots of beautiful fabric picked out to use.  I can't wait to see the finished outfits.

Another one of my favorite blogs is Making More With Less.  Two sisters, Alisa and Suzanne, share their creative endeavors.  They both make beautiful quilts and clothes.

Pam has been working with knits quite a bit lately.  She also jazzes up RTW shirts with adorable embellishments.

Ivey started her blog in January of this year.  She has several fantastic Valentine outfits pictured that are simply adorable.

They are all great blogs and full of plenty of inspiration.  Enjoy!

-C

Puffis Shirt

I'm not thrilled with my attempt at this shirt but at least I'm not loathing it like I did.  In my many tangent searches online I came across a website that offers free artwork to download.  There's a few in there I thought would be oh-so-cute on shirts for the girls.  In particular, the picture from Mandy Sutcliffe grabbed me.

Unfortunately, my iron-on doesn't really do it justice.  The colors are a bit off and I downsized the picture because I thought it was too big.  In hindsight, the orginial size would have been fine and probably would have looked a lot better.  I really need to work on the placement of embellishments.  I had put the picture too low and hated it.  At one point I considered tossing the shirt.  Last night, I decided if I added something to break up all that white above the picture, maybe it wouldn't look so awful.  It's definitely not one of my favorite tops but with the addition of the hearts, it'll do.

Typical Problem

It's a quiet Saturday here with the 2 little girls napping, my big girl occupied, and daddy and P playing on the Wii.  Perfect time to get some sewing in, right?  Wrong.

Where's my white thread?  It's gone walk-a-bout!  I had run out of white thread while working on the Scarlett O'Hara top so Friday morning I went to Hancock Fabrics.  Of course, I couldn't only buy thread.  I ended up with some heart fabric with plans to make the little girls Valentine Day tops.  I cut the tops out after I put M and B down for their naps and went to thread my sewing machine but can't find the white thread I bought.  Things like that always happen to me.

I can't wait until I have a dedicated sewing room.  Hopefully, things won't disappear as easily.  Right now, I've sewing in the dining room.  We're slowly transitioning B into M's room though that I can turn the nursery into a sewing room.  B's been sleeping nights in M's room but at naptime I can't put them together--they won't sleep.  So, for now, her toddler bed is still set up in the nursery and she naps in there.  Soon though, I'll have my own space.:)

Well, off to search the house and hopefully locate the thread before they wake up.

C

Scarlett O'Hara Top

Guess what?  I sewed something this afternoon that wasn't from Ottobre. 

It's a free pattern from the Oliver + S blog...the popover sundress.  The red gingham is from curtains that used to hang in our playroom before it became K's room.  Hence, the "Scarlett O'Hara" top.  I made a size 3 but shortened the pattern so that it would be a top.  It was supposed to be for M but she, in a typical kid fashion, refused to try it on.  B can still be bribed with goldfish crackers.:)  I'll probably go ahead and make a 2 for her as it's a little loose in the front.  The top still needs to be hemmed...I ran out of thread! 

This pattern is great.  It took me the little girls' naptime to sew it.  There's a lot of possibility with embellishment.  I had planned on using green ric rac but apparently I left it over at my parents' house on Tuesday.  Luckily, I have a bag of various pieces of trims and found the white eyelet to use.  My original plan also included a strawberry applique on the bodice.  Maybe on the next one.  After all, there's a lot of that red gingham left!

 

Snow Day and Tuesday SNS

We pretended it was summer time before nap today and the little girls modelled their new clothes I sewed for them over the last few days.

 Piparminttu jersey pinafore dress

My mom had traced this pattern (#1 01/10 OD) off for me a few weeks ago and I knew that the Chez Ami fabric I'd bought when they had their big sale would be perfect for it.  I made the biggest size (a 92) and could have gotten away with doing a smaller size.  I wanted a tunic/top so I cut it to the length of one of B's shirts.  Having read that it runs wide, I took in the top 1 inch along the side seams. 

Piparminttu top and green capris

The green pants are from the summer 2004 Ottobre Issue.  They have small vents on the outseam.  In the magazine, they have a ribbon running the circumference of each leg about an inch above the hemline.  I couldn't find any ribbon in my stash that wouldn't limit the pants to matching only one top so I skipped it for now.  The fabric is from Ikea.  These pants fit M too except there is definitely diaper ease built into them.  B wearing a cloth diaper fills the crotch out nicely...a little too nicely in the picture!  She had a very wet and droopy diaper on.lol

Free Tank Top Pattern dressed up with ruffles and a flower

Ottobre Design has a free tank top pattern on their website.  I had printed it off last summer and made a few plain tops for B.  This time, I added ruffles by cutting strips of fabric and finishing the edges with a rolled hem.  The inspiration shirt has 5 strips across the front of the shirt but after working several hours on mine (and ready to move on to something else) I opted to do 3 instead.  Another difference is I chose to do a rolled hem on the bottom of the shirt.

M likes her new top and wants to know when I'm going to make her little sister one. 

All 3 pieces could be considered part of my SWAP for the little girls.  I still need to sit down and formally pick all my patterns/fabrics.  I've decided that I won't do a full SWAP for K and P.  They both still fit into their summer clothes from last year so I'll only make one or two new pieces for them.