Hopscotch Owls

Not much to say about today's project.  I used the Oliver + S Hopscotch top pattern and an owl print from Jo-Ann's.  It was an easy enough pattern to sew and went together quickly.

Nice B

The real B

Lisette Patterns for $2.99

I was going to post this on the Oliver+S forum but didn't know if it was appropriate or not so I'll share it here instead.  Tipped off by a post on Sewing Mamas, sewingpatterns.com has the new women's line from Liesl (designer of the O+S patterns) Lisette on sale for $2.99.   Just search for Lisette on sewingpatterns.com and it should pop up.

I like the looks of the jacket and dress pattern (2209) and had originally planned to wait until I'd heard how it sewed up for others since I fall in between their size ranges.  But at $2.99, I couldn't resist so I bought both sizes and will see which one fits best.

Ice Cream with a pair of Plum

For a while there, I didn't think I'd ever finish these pants.  



But yesterday, with the girls all healthy, we made our weekly pilgrimage to Grandma's and I had a few hours of uninterrupted sewing time.



Plum Cargo Pants OD 01/11 #13

I wanted to sew these since I first layed eyes on the pattern but thought they wouldn't pass M's stringent  requirements for any new clothes.  However, she did indeed like them.   Perhaps it was the bows on the pockets?  I used a bottomweight from my mom's stash (I believe it's a twill from Jo-Ann's).  To tie into the aqua tops I have sewn recently, all the topstitching is in aqua thread. 



I adore the back pockets!

Topstitching is time consuming but worth it for the overall effect.  It certainly adds a little more polish to a pair of pants.  I do think there's a small mistake in the pattern.  The markings for the tie placement on the side pocket is lower than it should be.  I ended up laying the pocket pieces out and referencing the photo of the pants in the magazine to get the placement right. 

The bottom weight twill is a little stiff and makes the ties hard to tie in a bow.  The pattern calls for a soft outerwear fabric.  I still haven't quite figured out what that is!  My concern with sewing pants for the kids is that it needs to be substantial enough that they won't rip a hole in the knees the first time they wear them.  My crew plays hard!

I sewed a size 104 and don't think I made any alterations in the length.  That's the problem of working on a project over a span of time...I forget if I did any modifications.  [ETA:  I double checked against the pattern and I had added approx. 2 inches to the length.]  I did use buttonhole elastic in the waistband.  I made my buttonholes where the markings are on the waistband pattern piece for ending the elastic.  It wasn't on purpose.  I just hadn't read all the way through the pattern instructions and assumed that the markings were for buttonhole elastic!  That's a happy mistake though and works out really well. 

Sweatpants for Conditioning

K's been attending spring conditioning at her school 2x a week in preparation for track tryouts.  The poor girl was in shorts the first day they met and it was in the mid-30s (F) that day.   Mom needed to remedy that situation quickly and store bought knit pants are not an option for her.  In order to have the length, she needs pants that are several sizes too big in the waist. 

But not to worry, a pair of the "Saija" sweatpants from Ottobre Design 1/2009 seen in the Ottobre Sewing flickr pool from Ruth had stuck in my mind as being a good option for K.  

#28 OD 01/09

I purchased the gray sweatshirt fabric from Hancock Fabrics.  It's a cotton/poly blend and has some heft to it.  I didn't really think about the pockets and waistband until it was time to cut the pattern out.  The directions call for you to cut the pocket bags out of the same material as the pants.  I worried that it would be too bulky and couldn't decide what to do.  I have plenty of knit scraps that I could use but they are prints with loud colors.  Even in my fabric stash, I didn't have a gray or neutral solid.  I went from worrying that the pockets would be too bulky to worrying that if I used a print, it would show.  I ended up emailing Ruth and asking her what she had used for her pockets and soliciting her opinion.  She very graciously replied that she used the french terry and that while the pockets are somewhat bulky, they weren't overly so.  She mentioned that she had a pair of RTW (ready-to-wear) sweatpants with pockets and they were made the same.  I didn't even think to look at a pair of RTW!  Checking out a pair that P has, I saw that they were made with jersey pockets.  

I stewed for a day and thought about what I could use for the pockets and then a light bulb went on over my head!  My husband has a pile of t-shirts that are for painting/working on the cars/doing dirty jobs in his closet.  If I took one and cut it up, he wouldn't miss it!  

K's dad's t-shirt is a lighter shade of grey.  I fiddled with the pockets while sewing them and ended up edge stitching the pockets.  I did a good job on K's right side but the left...you can see it's gaping a little bit in the picture.  That makes me even gladder that I didn't use a bright color for the pockets!

For the waistband I used some left over rib knit from Jo-Ann's Fabrics that I used for the mushroom shirt over a year ago.  I had traced off a size 146 width and 152 length and really think I would have been fine with a 140w/146l.  Turns out the 146 is still a little wide for K in the waist and hip.  To rectify that problem, I borrowed a technique from the Oliver + S Sandbox pants pattern, elastic with ties sewn on either end.  I threaded that through the buttonholes and had K try on the pants again.  Once I got a good fit, I pinned the elastic at the side seams and stitched in the ditch along them.  She can still adjust the fit with the ribbon ties since some of the elastic comes around  the front.

K's all set for conditioning but a bit disappointed that she won't be able to wear them tomorrow since the expected high is in the mid-70s!

THANK YOU Ruth for your input.  I really appreciated that you replied.  It helped clarify my thoughts as to what I needed to do.:)

3 Down

All 3 girls now have strep throat.  Such is the case with having children who are close to one another...sharing the love means sharing the germs too.  *fingers crossed* that this is where our strep story ends. 

There probably won't be any sewing today but I'm hoping to at least start tracing the pattern for K's sweat pants off plus a top from the new Ottobre Design.  I received an order from fabric.com last night, that includes fabric for this:

The top part will be made from City Weekend Interlock by Oliver + S in Cafe Dots-Gold:

And the bottom will be Little Folks Voile in Ink by Anna Maria Horner:

I love the feel of the voile and ended up placing an order at Quilt Home this morning while on hold with the doctor's office for:

I'm considering using the panel print for this dress:  Anna Maria Horner Museum Tunic  We have a wedding in July and also one in September and Momma needs a new dress.  Being stuck at home isn't good for my fabric budget.  There's too much time on my hands to peruse the 'net and do some cyber shopping.

Grandma's Valentine Outfit

While over my parents' house last week, flipping through older issues from Ottobre Design, I came across these pants and thought, "What perfect pants for Valentine's Day!".  I told my mom that I thought she should make M a pair to wear to school.  Friday afternoon, she brings over the finished pants and I realize that M has nothing that will match.

My mom mentions that she has some of the stripe left over that she used for the hearts near the hem.  A quick run through of what patterns I had that were already traced off in M's size and for a woven left us with the Sailboat top from Oliver + S.  

Mom dropped the top off on Saturday and MG proudly wore her "heart" outfit to school on Monday. 

Today, all of the kids are wearing clothes that were sewn for them.  Slowly, their clothes are becoming more and more sewn vs. bought.  P has on a pair of Sandbox pants.  K is wearing her new hoodie.  B, well she's not dressed yet but is wearing her dog nightgown.  And M, poor M, is not feeling well today but has dressed herself in anticipation of a doctor's appointment for this afternoon...

 Ice cream Tshirt, Raspberry Striped Tunic, Neat Beat pants

eta:  Following MG's visit with the doctor, it turns out that both of the little girls have strep throat.

Sporty Goodie Hoodie

Instead of my usual modus operandi of randomly choosing a pattern that I want to make and using fabric from my stash, I enlisted K and the internet.  My oldest daughter loves to wear hoodies and most days she tops whatever shirt she's wearing with one.  I double checked that she would like #34 in the new spring issue from Ottobre Design and then went about finding some quality fleece to use.  From back in the day when I used to sew cloth diapers, I knew that Malden Mills fleece is considered the holy grail of fleece.  However, it can be hard to find especially at a reasonable price.  Using the power of the internet, I found Mill Direct Textiles which is located in Massachusetts and is a cornucopia of quality fleece!  K picked which color she wanted (solitude) and I ordered it plus a swatch pack for future fleece needs.



The hoodie is cut slim and has invisible zippers along the front raglan seams.  I traced off a 152 for length and thought that I'd probably end up taking it in some.  K's broad through the shoulders but slim through the chest and waist. 

I didn't do any adjustments and it's a good thing because I don't know if she'd be able to get it off without any help if I had. 

There's some extra fabric under her armpits and along the side seams but she needs that to shimmy out of the hoodie.

Ignore our messy house in the background!  K is also wearing a shirt and tunic from way back in 2009 that I made as part of a fall SWAP (sewing with a plan).

I've ensured that spring is on it's way by sewing a warm hoodie suitable for wintertime.  In fact, today it's supposed to be in the upper 60s here.  K will have to wait for a cooler day to wear her new hoodie to school.

Ice Cream!

Last night while watching The Weather Channel and trying to determine if we were really going to get snow again, I finished up a long sleeve shirt for layering with M's Raspberry Striped Tunic and to go with her new Sunday Brunch outfit.  12 buttons sewn on with brown thread later and this is what we have...

...plus an uncooperative model.

The shirt is the Ice Cream button-banded T-shirt from the Spring 2011 Ottobre Design.  I used this horribly thin cotton knit that I had in my stash.  I have a feeling this was one of those JA's clearance table or fabric.com's $1.95 section buys from a while back.  I picked it for this project since a) it's aqua, b) I had enough for this shirt, c) I figured since the pattern had gathers along the chest that it would negate how sheer the fabric is.  It worked but doing the center front button band was a test of my patience and it's far from perfect. 



See how happy she is!

The pattern is fine, I just wouldn't use such a light weight fabric for it.  The button band on the front is pulling the fabric across her chest forward some.  I could have maybe alleviated that by making the neckline binding tighter but another downfall of the thin yucky fabric is that you can forget trying to rip out any mistakes...believe me, I tried! 



It'll work for what it's intended to do.  And Miss M actually likes the shirt but she didn't want her picture taken!



size 104

If you're wondering if it snowed....

Yes, it did and school was cancelled.  Spring, where are you????



Sunday Brunch with a side of Raspberry

Finally!  I have made a Sunday Brunch jacket.  It was the first Oliver + S pattern ever purchased...specifically for the darling jacket. 

But somehow, I didn't get around to making one.  I did sew the skirt for K in 2009.  Part of my problem was that I couldn't decide what fabric to use.  I thought about making a red cord one but worried about it being too Christmas-y for the rest of the year.  I considered a solid brown...meh.  I wanted to make a gray jacket after seeing this one but really needed to use up some of the fabric from my stash. 

After M started requesting clothes that were aqua, I remembered a brown with aqua polka dots cord that I had.  Even though she had initially rejected the Sunday Brunch pattern, I took a chance that she'd like the finished outfit.

I have a long sleeve tee cut out but didn't have time to sew it before church this morning.  M happily grabbed her new tunic that I had "made to order" previously.

She really likes the pockets in the skirt. 

Initially, she wasn't too keen on buttoning the jacket.  I think she wanted to make sure that her tunic was showing. 

I'm pleased with this pattern.  The instructions were wonderful as is typical of the Oliver + S patterns.  The binding on the jacket seams and the facing was a little time consuming, but well worth the effort.  I ended up using the fabric that I used for the top of the tunic for the jacket's facings and binding.  The skirt is sweet and a quick sew.  I love the little kick pleat in the back and the pockets are great to have. 

Right now MG is rockin' her new outfit with her daddy's Green Bay Packers hat.  Go Packers!!