Wednesday 28 October 2015

Autumn: Kids Clothes Week

Happy half-term, sewing friends! Wow, I hadn't realised it had been so long since my last post, never mind. Hope you are all well. Last week was 'Kids Clothes Week', the initiative that encourages you to sew an hour a day for seven days, solely for the little people in your life.



This year, the theme was 'Disguise'. I had lots of ideas, but in the end I went with a button-up shirt for my eldest. The headache-inducing fabric was chosen by the lovely boy himself, and it would work well if he ever chose to disguise himself as a zebra!!! 
 

I have never made a shirt before; even though it's not my finest work, I really enjoyed sewing it.  Oops, just noticed in the photographs: I haven't removed all my basting thread on the shoulders - will rectify that when the boy takes it off.


The plackets caused the most bother; I unpicked and re-stitched several times, but got there in the end.  I even got to use my button foot to sew on the buttons by machine! Cool.


This was also my first attempt at a rolled hem; again, I used a specialist machine foot. It worked fine on a single layer of fabric but as soon as I came to a seam the foot did not want to play ball. But it'll do. It was good practice, and I now want to put rolled hems on everything!

 

The pattern is Design Q from Sew Chic Kids. I love this book and have made several items from it. I find the illustrations and list style instructions easy to follow.  I recommend it if you have kiddos to sew for between 2 and 10. My scrummy boy is 9 and a half; this is the age 8 size but it should fit him for a long time to come.


My favourite feature is the cute pleat on the back yoke; made me feel very accomplished making it.  Always a good feeling!


I am tempted to try again on this pattern now I understand how all the pieces fit together; it should be much easier and quicker next time round. I have a huge list of things to make for ME, though, so it's unlikely to happen for a while! So that's my contribution to Kids Clothes Week. Have you made anything for Autumn KCW?