Swimsuits!

I made B a new swimsuit yesterday at my parents and started on K's.  It got later and later and I really wanted to finish it before heading home.  At 7:30pm, I said if I wasn't done by 8 I was leaving.  8 o'clock came and went.  I was so close to getting the top done and then the I'm-trying-to-finish-this-quickly mistakes started to happen.  By 8:40pm and with M getting whiny, I admitted defeat and headed home with the kids.  Luckily, we live 5 minutes away so the kids were tucked into bed by 9pm.

This morning, I finished K's swimsuit just in time for her to wear it swimming at a friend's house.

Ottobre Design #39 03/09 Gilda Bikini

Usually with OD patterns, I trace a 140 for K.  This time around I double checked her hip and chest measurements and decided to use a 134.  It was a good choice as the swimsuit fits perfectly.  I lined the top's front and the entire bottoms.  Next time around, I'llt make my seam allowances on the bottoms wider to give a little more coverage.  I found the instructions to be confusing.  I didn't really understand what I was supposed to do for the gathering so I did my own thing.  I used 2 strips of lastin on either side of the top's front middle to gather the fabric.  Also, I swear that the instructions never said how to sew the crotch seam...then again, it could have been me rushing and not reading thoroughly.  I'm happy with how it turned out and love the combo of Chez Ami fabrics.   K confirms that the swimsuit works well for swimming! 

B's swimsuit is from Ottobre Design 02/04.  I made it last year in a size 92 and it was getting too small for adequate coverage.  So, I traced a 98...

Don't you just love my groovy 70's Harvest Gold bathroom!

I could have gotten away with tracing the next size up.  It's a little low in the neckline and a little snug in the bottom.  She'll be okay for now but any growth spurts and that's it for this swimsuit.  I haven't tried it on M yet but I hope it fits.  I have another swimsuit in the same size cut out but with the floral for the top and the dots for the bottom.

I used a three step zigzag for applying the lastin and for applying the binding on the bikini.  On my previous swimsuit sewing experience, I had used a regular zigzag.  The three step is a definite improvement.  Usually for stretching fabrics, I use a walking foot.  This time around I used a regular foot and it worked fine.  Sewing swimsuits is easier than it looks and well worth doing.

It all started with...

...these capris.

K got the capris in a bag of hand-me-downs from a friend.  She likes them and they fit perfectly but the light lime green doesn't go with any of her shirts.  White is always an option but she only has one white t-shirt.  What's a sewing mom to do?  Why, go look in her fabric stash of course!

I had a Chez Ami stripe that had that particular green in it along with blue and orange.   I decided to try out the Oliver + S Sailboat Top.  Of course, we're smack dab in the middle of a heat wave (hello 95 degree + temps) so sleeveless was the way to go.

I used the biggest size (an 8) and added a little extra to the overall length by pinning the hem facing right under the pattern hem line to give me the length I needed while retaining the curve.  For the armholes, I simply cut a strip of orange knit fabric out and sewed it to the armhole with right sides facing.  I then turned it under and let a little bit of the orange roll out before top stitching.  Luckily with the knit fabric I don't have to worry about the unfinished edge on the underside unravelling.  We'll see how well it holds up.

I had planned on using 4 green buttons but only had 3 that matched so I went with 2 orange and 2 green.  Now K has a shirt to match her green capris! 

B-Saurus and brief update

One item on my wants is crossed off...current pictures of B.  She was such a ham during the photo shoot and there were a ton of really great pictures to choose from.  She was constantly in motion but the photographer was able to nail several typical B moments.  And those were the pictures I chose.  I could of gone with the pretty poses but that's not my B.  My B has a bold and vibrant personality and a mischievous spirit.  Just like the girl in the pictures above.

We also finished up with school and award assemblies last week.  I'm very proud of my 2 oldest...straight A's for both, P had the most Accelerated Reader points in the entire school, and K took home a Gold physical fitness award.  They both applied themselves this year and it was nice to see that hard work rewarded.

I've given up on stripping/refinishing the furniture.  It was a great idea but we were gifted with the rest of the furniture that went with the bunk beds.  So now there's the bunk beds, a dresser, a desk, and 2 bookcases that all have the funky paint job.  I can't even begin to imagine how much time it would take to strip all of that!  I've decided to paint everything a matte black.

I've been sewing a little here and there.  One of the 2+2 tops is almost done...all it needs is to be hemmed.  The bubble gauze is a bit of a pain to sew with as it stretches some and it's light weight enough that I have to be careful or else the sewing machine eats it.  It's a good thing I've been doing most of my sewing after the kids are in bed or else they might have added some new colorful words to their vocabulary!

eta:  I finished the top!  It's a size 4 and on B the front slit is a little low but it should be perfect on M.  I omitted the back button placket since I plan on the girls wearing their tops while we're on our marathon trip.  I think buttons might get a little uncomfortable on the back if one is stuck in a car seat for hours on end.  M's will be pink with orange accents.

 

My favorite color...

...is blue!  P has switched allegiance from green to blue.  He's fine with the shirt but I still think I'm going to make it again and fix the things I'm not happy with.  I'm going to increase the seam allowances when I cut the fabric and decrease my seam allowances just a hair when I sew it.  I'm also going to stabilize the seams since all 3 of the fabrics are rib knits.  That should eliminate the little bit of rippling across the front.  And I'll add an extra inch or so of length so the shirt is not outgrown in a few months. 

I've also pulled out my smocking I'd been working at and remembered why I hadn't finished it.

I ran out of embroidery thread and neither my mom or myself has that exact shade.  What a shame, since there's not much left to do!  I need to make a trip to the fabric store this weekend anyways for swim elastic so hopefully, I can find the shade I need.

 

Yucky Day

Overcast, rainy days don't lend themselves well to SNS pictures.

"Eliza" dress #35 Ottobre Design 03/09 size 140

I did not sew the blue dress, my mom did. 

I'll post pictures of K wearing the dress on Friday.  She had Grandma stitch the top of the pleats together as she didn't like how they flopped down and open.  I bought K new sandals to wear with the dress too.  Words can't even begin to describe how excited she is to have a special graduation outfit! 

 

03/10 "Beat" T-shirt

P's new shirt...eh.  It looks better on than hanging, never mind the water spots from me using the iron before it was heated up enough and being too lazy to let them dry before snapping a picture.  I sewed a size 134 (usually I do a 128 for P) and it's tighter and shorter than I like.  P picked the colors out himself...the lightest blue is from Chez Ami and the other 2 are from fabric.com.  He wore it yesterday after I finished it and got strawberry stains all down the front.  I threw it in the washer/dryer this morning and when I took the shirt out, one of my mistakes became obvious.  I didn't catch enough of the light blue at the top of the neckline when I put the ribbing on.  After fiddling with it a little this morning, I ended up making a taking a wider seam allowance.  I'm going to have P try it on again tonight and re-evaluate the fit.  It's probably going to end up being given away to a smaller boy.  I have plenty of the fabric so making a bigger one won't be a problem.

I've also been working on the 2+2 tops.  I'm hoping for some quiet time this afternoon to finish them up.  A little sunshine would be nice too!

Ice cream on the Swingset

In all honesty, this top was mostly finished last Tuesday.  I brought it home to do the buttonholes and realized that I hadn't used the new to me sewing machine for buttonholes yet.  It took a bit of reading as I didn't think the machine had an automated buttonholer.  I'd about figured it out when my mom stopped by on Friday to check the fit of K's graduation dress.  I mentioned what I was trying to do and she showed me that her old machine did in fact have an automated buttonholer.  So, this afternoon I put in the buttonholes and sewed on 3 buttons. 

M had to be bribed with an Oreo to be my model.:)  The top is from the Oliver + S Swingset Tunic & Skirt pattern.  I made a size 4.  I think the ice cream print is a little too big/busy but M likes it.  As long as your customer (in my case, M) is happy, that's all that matters!

Wants vs. Needs

I've been enjoying the past week with only the little girls at home.  Yesterday, we went for a hike in the woods.  I was so proud of my youngest...she walked the entire time with no complaining.   Both girls (with the exception of B's shorts) are wearing handmade clothes.

B's top is from a pattern my mom used to sew for me (grandma also sewed this top) and M is wearing her "Girl Power" shirt with shorts made from my tutorial.

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed these days.  We're headed on a cross-country trip the beginning of July and trying to cram all that I want done into these next 3 weeks is stressful.   The only things on my plate that have to be done are the kids' award assemblies at school, B's speech evaluation, and K's ophthalmologist appointment.  Everything else qualifies as a want.  A big want, that I'd like to squeeze in, is a professional photo of the kids.  It's been 2 years since I've had one done...


B was quite bald in those days!  I don't have a current picture of her alone either.  Used to be when I only had 3 children, I took them every 6 months to have a portrait done or in the case of the elder children bought their school pictures.  *sigh* 

It would also be nice to finish the bunk beds I was working on stripping.  One set is a few hours away from being done.  If, I can find a few hours to work on it.  Someone had asked a while back what I finally found that worked for stripping paint off of furniture.  This is what worked best for me:  Apply the cheapest (also the most chemical laden) stripper heavily and let it sit until the paint starts to blister.  In my case it took about 30 minutes.  Scrape the blistered paint off.  Then using coarse steel wool, scrub at the remaining paint dipping into a dish of the stripper as needed.  After the wood dried, I used a power sander to get the few spots that were left.   The biggest problem is that you need a big chunk of time to work on it and the chemical stripper is nasty.  After about 2 hours of working with the stripper, it burned through a pair of stripping gloves I was wearing!

And of course there's a nice, long list of sewing I'd like to do:

1. B's Girl Power T-shirt
2. A T-shirt for P
3. Oliver + S 2+2 blouses for M and B
4. Oliver + S Sailor Top for K
5. Outfit from Australian Smocking & Embroidery magazine
6. Swimsuits for all 3 girls
7. Cover up for myself

It's tough not adding more to my list of wants.  There's so much that would be great to do but not at the expense of what little sanity I have left!

I finished altering K's dress yesterday. I ended up taking 3 inches off the bodice length and loosening the elastic in the neckline. The fit is so much better. I also added elastic to the bottom edge of a bikini top for K and mended several dress-up dresses. My mending list is mostly done other than the velvet jumper and some Barbie dresses. There's no big hurry to finish those and I'm ready to move on to something new.


I received 2 packages over the weekend. One was an order from The Fabric Fairy of 3 yards of french terry.  The other was from fabric.com and included 3 different colors of cotton gauze, a star print poplin, and 2 patterns from Oliver + S (Sailboat and 2+2).  I'm planning on making a beach cover up for myself from the gauze.  There's a new free downloadable pattern on fabric.com's website that I'm going to try.  I also did some in-store fabric shopping.  K needs a dress for her 5th grade graduation in 2 weeks and she picked an Ottobre Design dress pattern.


It's #35 from the 03/09 issue.  I loved the dress when we first received the magazine but K hated it so it was much to my surprise that she chose that particular dress.  I guess her tastes have changed over the last year.  She wants it to be blue so I chose a blue linen from Hancock's.  I won't be sewing this one...my mom will.  She also has an outfit for M in the works that involves smocking.  I can't wait to see the finished clothing!
  

More Mending

More progress made during Mending Week

Before is here

After...

 

These shorts were originally pants that I made B back in January.  She's gained quite a bit in height since then so the length wasn't working but the fit in the waist was still fine.  I cut the legs off the pants so that the inseam was approx. 4 inches and then used ribbon to finish the hems.  I suffered a moment of cleverness and decided to cut vents in the outside seam and cover those with ribbon too.  It ended up working but isn't quite what I had in mind.  I'm thinking of going back and making a closure of some kind at the bottom of the vent to rein the fullness in.  Altering the pants took longer than I thought so I didn't get started on fixing K's Easter Dress.  It's probably best that I didn't as now I can have her try it on before I start cutting. 

Ruffles and Mending

In addition to the "Girl Power" shirt, I also made M the Ruffled Halter by Oliver + S for Stitch magazine.  I saw this morning that you can download the pattern directly from O+S here.  I've had the polka dot stripe fabric for several years.  Since the ruffles are cut on the bias, my original fabric choice with a directional print wasn't going to cut it.  I rather like how this fabric worked out.  M is also wearing the puppet show shorts I sewed.

And I'm still plugging away at my mending list.  This morning I fixed a decoration on a top that my mom had sewn for M a few years ago.  B is now wearing it and is definitely rougher than her sister with her clothes.

Before:

After:

I'm saving the more involved mending for this afternoon.  There's K's dress and a pair of B's pants that need some help and I believe a few of the dress up clothes are hanging by a thread.;)  How far I get depends on how long B-saurus naps!

Mending, Day 1

I started on my mending week to-do list last night after all the kiddos were tucked into bed.  M's horse purse was first on my list.  Before:

One of the handles had come unstitched

After: 

M is wearing Ottobre Design 03/06 #17.  Peachy has made several of these that I adore so when purchasing some back issues recently, I made sure to buy the one that had this shirt in it.  I used cotton jersey from fabric.com and since I didn't have a color I liked for the binding I ended up cutting into a craft t-shirt from AC Moore.  I'm not sure where I stumbled across the "girl power" picture originally.  I believe it was on a sewing blog that had a link to this.  It was one of those things that I downloaded and promptly forgot about until cleaning up my computer's desktop recently.  I used paint.net to color it in and then printed it off on to iron on transfer paper.  I did one for B too and just need to make her shirt.