PR&P: Earth Day Challenge

I'm all for upcycling (using clothing/linens for your fabric) but this challenge wasn't the easiest for me.  See, I recently got rid of a bunch of clothes that I had set aside for upcycling.  I've been on a clean up and clear out kick recently and that pile of clothing was one of the first to go. 

 I did save one lonely shirt  though.

A Docker button down that was John's.  He had this shirt when we first started dating 16 years ago.  It still fits him and is in great shape but he was tired of it (as was I).  But it was too nice to just toss.  I knew I'd find a use for it eventually.

And that is making an Oliver + S Hopscotch skirt from it!  I was able to use the existing button placket which cut down on sewing time.  And since John is a tall man (6' 5") I had plenty of fabric to cut the pockets from.  There's still some shirt left....perhaps the scraps will become the yoke of a Badminton Top one day.

In the mending pile, I found a red rib knit shirt that I had made P some time ago that he didn't particularly care for.  I was able to cut a bolero (Ottobre Design 03/10 #9 'Lemon Juice') from it.  I omitted the frills on the sleeves and chose not to put elastic in the sleeve hems.  BK doesn't like things that are tight around her arms. 

The skirt and the bolero paired with a RTW white shirt and saltwater sandals makes a casual but fun outfit.  Perfect for dinner al fresco at Waterman's.

BK was a trooper for photos today.  It was raining!  It seems like every Thursday it's either overcast or raining.  I need to finish my challenge submissions earlier in the week from now on.:)  The skirt and bolero were also part of my KCWC sewing.

KCWC: Days 1-3

I, like a lot of you, am participating in Kids Clothes Week Challenge.  But, unlike most of you, it took me until today to have anything to sew-n-tell.

I've been looking into shorts pattern for P for a while.  2 of the shorts patterns I have been eyeing are not large enough. The first is the Make It Perfect Long Board shorts. I adore the ones on the cover of the pattern and even got P's approval to make a pair just like those. But the largest size is still several inches too small for P. Boo Hoo:(

The other is a similar style from Ottobre Design.  But they only go up to a 128 and P is firmly in a 140.  I debated myself for weeks as to whether I should take a chance that the sizing of the MIP pattern is generous or if I should just go ahead and grade up the OD pair. 

In the interest of saving a little moolah and working with what I got, I chose to grade up.

Ottobre Design 03/10 #19 "Wailers"

I used a brown twill from Joann Fabrics, a scrap of white poplin, and some white ribbing from my fabric stash.  I added 3/4" to all the edges of the pattern to size it up.  The rise needs to be a little deeper but otherwise, I think I got a pretty decent fit. 

I used white thread for all my topstitching to add a little pop to the plain brown.  I like how it ties in to the white at the pockets and waist.

The shorts pass the ripstick riding test*!

*Yes, I realize I let my kid ride a skateboard with no helment and flip flops. 
But no P's were harmed in the shooting of these pictures.:)

It's Birthday Time...Again

Last week had us celebrating our only son's 11th birthday.

 

 

I love this boy!  He handles being the lone boy with grace all most of the time. 

I completely copied Joy from 21wale in making P a roman numeral birthday shirt.  He picked what color fabric (white interlock) and the colors for the roman numerals (2 shades of blue).  I used the Imke pattern from Sewing Clothes Kids Love.

P chose to have a birthday/sleepover party with 4 of his good friends from school.  I've mentioned before that throwing parties is not really a passion of mine.  But every couple of years, I'm willing to do put aside my distaste and make my children happy. 

Friday, I had quite a few things to accomplish.  Chiefly, cleaning the house and making P's birthday cake.  Well....real life got in the way.  Our elderly dog had an accident, a very large and wet accident, on the couch in the living room kids' hang out room.  Pee was on the down blanket, the couch cushion, wicking up the back of the couch, soaking through the base of the couch, and in a puddle on the carpet under the couch.  Needless to say, I did not plan on having to deal with a mess of that proportion.

I did attempt a clean up with Nature's Miracle but it quickly became apparent that the couch was toast.  A kindly neighbor helped me lug the couch outside and I was able to clean the carpet.  Thrown off balance by the unexpected, I was in quite a tizzy all afternoon as time raced by. 

the infamous couch of pee

I had pinned a 'Building Block' cake a little while ago with plans to make that for P's party.  The end result was not quite as pretty...

Let's just say that I don't have a future in the cake decorating business.;)

But the nice thing about 11 year old boys, they could care less if the house smells like dog or if the Lego cake is rather misshapen.  They are just happy to be together having fun.

Neapolitan Sportswear

This week's entry for the Project Run & Play sewalong at home challenge:

 'Sandbridge Top' in Chez Ami cotton/lycra knit

Self Drafted Shorts in Chez Ami brown twill

Clever Charlotte Flutter Blouse in Little Lisette poplin

Oliver + S Badminton Skort in pink jersey knit

'Sandbridge Top'

O+S Badminton Skort

CC Flutter Blouse

Self Drafted Shorts

I have 4 pieces of clothing in vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry (Neapolitan) that mix and match to create 4 different outfits. 

The Sandbridge Top is one of my prototypes for the free pattern/tutorial that I put together for Amanda at Kitschy Coo in March.  You can find the tutorial HERE if you're interested.:)

For the shorts, I took a pair of RTW ones that had been handed down through at least 3 kids and no longer fit BK and drafted a similar pair.  I especially like the back yoke and the half way fly that closes with velcro.  Easy Peasy for BK to close!

The hand stitching on the waist band with embroidery floss in vanilla and strawberry ties in with my Neapolitan theme.

Since I love the Flutter Blouse pattern from Clever Charlotte so much, I had to make another.  BK has been begging for an 'ice cream' top so this adorable Little Lisette print was the perfect fabric to use.

And I did the keyhole opening correct this time!;)

Since I'd made the Badminton Top last week, I had to give the skort a try.  I chose not to do the scallops as I didn't think they would work well on the light weight jersey knit I used.  I interfaced the inner front waistband also because of how light weight the fabric is. 

You can see the shorts peeking out from under the skirt.  I'd say this pattern is made for my active, crazy posing BK!

Link Parties:

Pink Lemonade

The week 1 Project Run & Play Challenge was to take the Dana Made It Circle Skirt tutorial and remix it.  At first glance it doesn't look like I did much "remixing".  But take a second look...

My remixing involved a little polka dot smocking and some hand stitching on the elastic waistband.  Word to the wise...polka dot smocking on fabric that is cut on the bias doesn't give you the perfect geometric look of the tutorial.  *sniff, sniff*  But it's still a cute design feature.

Circle skirts have a lot of fullness.

And a lot of fullness means...

TWIRLING!

Always a big hit with the 7 and under crowd  all girls because let's face it...if you're wearing a circle skirt you have got to twirl!

The coordinating top is the Badminton from Oliver + S.  The Badminton Top (Dress + Skort) is part of their Spring 2012 pattern release.   I used a white stretch poplin for the top and the skirt/accent on the top is Children at Play Dot to Dot in Berry.

We had a little friend come by while we were doing pictures...with polka dots to boot!



linking up to Shwin & Shwin

Year Long Linky Parties

If you haven't already found your way to Pam's blog, Threading My Way, you're missing out!

She has many ongoing linky parties with lots of different categories.  Bags and Totes, Skirts for Girls, and Softies, Dolls, Toys to name a few. 

I love participating in link parties but sometimes it's hard to keep track of which blog is holding a link party on which day (or at least it is for me!).  With the ongoing link parties, you have the entire year to add your link.  Plus each category is a repository of inspiration.

I'm starting to sound like a bad infomercial but I really do like Pam's blog and think it's worth a look.   I thought I'd give the blog a shout out for others who might be looking for some sewing inspiration.  After all, one can never have too much!:)

Happy Easter!

Last year for Easter, I sewed all of us girls new dresses. This year I got off easy and only sewed K a new dress.

Simplicity Little Lisette 1893

The inspiration for this dress was a sundress from Chasing Fireflies.  K liked the overall look but didn't care for the tiers.  The new Little Lisette pattern is very similar in style so I turned her loose in my voile stash and she chose an AMH Little Folks print, Village Path.

Based on her measurements, I sewed up a size 8 with the length of a 12 for the skirt.  I should have used the 12 for the bodice length too as the finished dress is more of a baby doll style.  Oh well, now I know for next time.:)  

The bodice is lined but I chose not to line the skirt part of the dress as I really like how ethereal the skirt is.  K is wearing a half slip underneath instead.  Unfortunately, she is also wearing a pair of black soffe shorts and the black is showing through a little above the slip.  I didn't catch that until I had already uploaded the pictures.   

My only modifications were to do an invisible zipper up the back and a rolled hem.  The rolled hem was to preserve every bit of length I could.  I keep forgetting that K is 5' 4"!

I wore my AMH Museum Tunic Dress.  I originally only had 2 rows of elastic...I added an additional row over the weekend and like the fit even more. 

This was supposed to be a picture of my "boys" but M wanted in on the fun.

After church services and an Easter Dinner at home, the kids looked for eggs in our backyard.

Believe it or not, this is the best picture of all 4 together!  I think they need to take picture posing lessons from Nicole's crew.:) 

Linking up to Make It Wear It at The Train to Crazy

Sleepover Sewing & Crafts

Since poor MG was sick last week, we had to postpone her 7th birthday celebration to this Friday.  I was sympathetic to her disappointment but happy that I had another week to complete my preparations.

One of the crafts the girls will have the option of doing is to personalize their pillowcases using fabric markers.  I looked at various tutorials online for making pillowcases and morphed them together.  Essentially, I used the full width of the rainbow fabric, folded it in half, serged the bottom and the one side seam, and then added a white "cuff" for the girls to draw on with the markers.  I wrote down the measurements somewhere so I could post them but they have disappeared on me.  (That's what happens when I clean up!)  I will probably be doing more pillowcases for K's birthday sleepover in May so if there's any interest, I can post the details then.

The sleeping mask was made using the Prudent Baby Minkee Eye Mask pattern shrunk down 75%.  I used the same fabric from the pillowcases so they would coordinate and a really soft pink fleece left over from a blanket I made BK a couple of years ago.

The girls will also be getting bath crayons as part of their goodie bags.

They are really simple to make.  I used this tutorial.  The bath crayons don't really mark a lot, especially the lighter colors.  Which when you have 30 year old harvest gold tile in the bathtub that's hard to clean, it's a blessing!  M and B had fun with the test batch and if nothing else, the soap got them clean.  I didn't add any scent to these.

And of course, we are continuing the rainbow theme so each girl will get a red, orange, yellow, green, and blue bath crayon in their bag.:)

Linking up to: