School uniform Simplicity 8108

Hi all. I've somehow got behind in blogging some of my makes. I made the darling girl a new summer uniform at the start of last term, and she has worn it loads and loads. I forgot to Instagram or blog it - standards are slipping! I have another few makes I'm looking forward to blogging soon too.

I chose this pattern as I'm hoping to make the adult "dottie angel frock" and wanted a trial run first! This is the mini me version of the pattern, and looks so cute on the pattern envelope.

The fabric is a cheap and cheerful gingham from The Fabric Shop, Worthing in tiny uniform style squares. The best bit is the huge pocket, perfect for Lego, small stones or feathers. The pattern has the pocket edged in bias binding, but I chose to line the pocket for strength and so didn't need the binding.

The pattern was easy to put together as its basically just a front,  a back and a pocket. The sleeves are grown on, and very comfy looking; the neckline is big enough to go over the head without being huge or gaping or slipping off the shoulder.

Pre-sewing main dress together

The sleeves are the weak point of the dress, so I have gone over the stitching line several times to reinforce it. It's so far held together through rigorous wearing and washing, but if I were to make another I would interface this area and possibly stabilise with another layer of fabric as well. You basically make a snip into the dress, below becomes the side seam and above becomes the sleeve hem. Easy to do, but prone to weakness. I can foresee the dress ripping there.

But the resultant dress has proved really popular. Easy for the little one to put on by herself with no fastening to negotiate, and the elastic under the bust and at the back cinches the dress in and gives it a lovely shape.

It was a quick make. The pattern goes up to age 8, so I imagine there will be a few more in years to come, for easy uniform or maybe some super cute prints for holiday wear.

That's all for today. A bit of a seasonally inappropriate post, as all the little ones are off for 6 weeks hols now!

Summer shorts

Hi all! It's June, how is that possible? The days are full of glorious sunshine and fabulous heat; it's with that in mind that our June project is a new fire and fireplace - what planning!!  In the meantime, here is something more weather appropriate: two pairs of cute little shorts for the little one.

I actually made these ages ago and they have sat in the work in progress box for a long time waiting patiently to have the elastic threaded through. It's funny how sometimes such a small task seems too much effort and therefore gets neglected! I'm so glad I finally got around to it as, these have been worn and washed and re-worn lots since, and still look great.

The pattern is a cute one from Simplicity's "It's so easy" range, and it lived up to the title, being a breeze to make. It was also great for scrapbusting; both of these were made from awkward shaped remnants after making my jumpsuit, and - a long time ago - a cute peacock dress.  

I am having to be more ruthless with scraps now, as space has become an issue; so, if I can't see an immediate use, they have to go. Previously, I would have kept even small bits, but I am being more realistic about time and resources now.

Looking forward to trying the skirt and top in the future.

Anyway, this pattern is quick to sew up, and fits nicely. I've jazzed them up a bit with trimmings. Little One particularly loves the pom-pom trim - they wobble about when she jumps!

The other is embellished with a green lace ribbon.  I have a thing for trims and will often buy ribbons if I think they look pretty, rather than with a project in mind. Again, this has to stop now, and I need to actively look for ways to use my box of ribbons rather than just adding to it. Too much conspicuous consumption!

I will definitely use this pattern again, and would recommend it for boys or girls.

Allsorts!

Hi friends! Are you taking part in #MIYMarch17 on IG? It's really good fun: a series of prompts for things to go and photograph. One such prompt was "Stash Bust", and I proudly took a pic of a skirt I was making for the little girl, using up fabric left over from making my husband some boxer shorts.   This made me realise that those boxers were still in my WIP box (work in progress, for those non-sewers amongst you). And all it wanted was the threading of the elastic. It seemed shameful to have something perfectly wearable not being worn, so I got right back to it.

The pattern is simplicity  8180 which is a good value one IMHO, as it has several patterns (pants, easy shirt and tie) for the money, in both boy and adult sizes; and it's currently half price too, I notice. The shirt figures in my future plans.

The Hubs was game enough to have blog photos taken, as long as they were very close up with no identifying features visible!

These are substantially smaller than "as drafted". The toile I made was like a pair of clown trousers down to his knees! No photos of that thankfully. He wore them all day and reported back that they were comfy; so, a success. I think I will make him a bunch of brightly coloured knickers.

Afterwards, I was left with a little piece of the fabric with which to make something for Small. A skirt seemed the obvious answer. I used a vintage pattern that was donated by a lady to the Brighton Sewing Bee meet-ups. She very kindly donated about a hundred patterns, and everyone there found something they liked.

The skirt is bias cut, and would be great in a striped fabric. I hemmed this with bias binding, which has given it a bit of structure and helped to keep it in shape.

The fabulous fabric is from Fabricland and is available in different colourways. I may well go back and buy more at some point; the eldest suggested it would look good as a shirt for him, and I think he may be right.

The top is also a vintage pattern, this time from Bobbin Along in Worthing, where they often have a few vintage patterns to chose from. I bought it for the tracksuit trousers, but sadly - as with some older patterns - it was missing vital pieces. Never mind, because the top is lovely. This is a wearable toile made out of a top of mine that I no longer wore, which had a small rip so was no good for the charity shop.  It's a lovely thick jersey, cosy and soft. I am really pleased with the fit for her: it's just a tiny bit long in the arm, but I shall not change anything as she grows so fast. I have the most beautiful bunny sweatshirting fabric that she is desperate for me to make it up in ASAP.  But there is a queue so she will have to wait.

That's all for now, folks! Hopefully the next post won't be such a mish-mash!

Child's Simplicity pattern 1146 x 2

Hello stitchers,  This post is just a quickie.  A few weeks ago I was on a "reduce, reuse and recycle" mission. I had an old maternity dress that I had bought second hand, which had seen me through three pregnancies, and had definitely seen better days.

However, there was some usable fabric in the skirt section.  Enter: child's Simplicity pattern 1146. An easy (only two pattern pieces) knit dress, this one cut out in an age 4 with age 5 length.  As I made this a while ago it has been in and out the wash, and has been worn lots; no ironing as it's a knit. Happily, Little Miss loves wearing dresses, they are her favourite.

This version closes with ribbon ties; a second version I made at the same time has sweet little buttons.

This second dress uses up two tiny remnants from t-shirt making.  I haphazardly sewed them together before cutting out the pattern pieces. I did this to avoid spending too long faffing around over an everyday nursery kind of dress. One tiny bit of lace trim from my goody box (this had almost certainly been cut off another garment as it had treads over it) really lifts this little dress.

So, two almost free dresses. I did pay £2.04 for the pattern in a half price sale. The rest of the maternity dress, though beyond use in clothing, has been cut up for my rag rug course! Call me Mrs. Thrifty! See you soon stitchers.

Kids Clothes Week 2016

Hi there. It's Kids Clothes Week Feb 2016, the online scheme to encourage you to sew for an hour a day for one week. Having three little 'uns, I always get great motivation from this scheme to replenish their wardrobes with homemade goodies.

My little girl seems insistent on becoming huge and outgrowing everything! I know you can buy kids clothes cheaply, but it feels like an act of love making them something. And actually this outfit - or rather two outfits - cost nothing. I used an old beloved denim skirt of mine, a few scraps from the scrap basket, and a bit of curtain material from the Brighton sewing bee fabric swap!

The pattern is simplicity 1379.  I did pay for this pattern (£3.25 in a half price sale!), but I've already used it twice; and, it goes up to age 8, so I should more use out of it in years to come. I chose it for those marvellous pockets, ready to be filled with toys and tut.

Construction-wise, this was an easy make, with a lined bodice for a neat finish inside. The back is supposed to close with a hook and eye, but I haven't bothered as it doesn't need it.

I really enjoyed making these, and hope she will have fun wearing them. Knowing it's mainly recycled fabrics means I won't need to be over precious when she comes home from preschool coated head to toe in paint! Technically there is one more day of KCW left; but, I am done in, so I'm calling it a day!

Did you take part in KCW?

Oh you sew, don't you?

Hello! Is it just me or does the phrase "oh, you sew, don't you?" bring you out in a cold sweat? It's usually followed hard with the likes of "could you look at this zip?" "Can you hem this for me?" "Would you mind..."

Normally I am prepared for such occasions, and deftly supply the name and number for a local alterations company!

This time however, I was caught on the hop at my daughter's preschool. Could I knock up a little bit of bunting for them? The fabric was deposited into my arms before I had a chance to say anything. And would I turn it around in four days, please, as they were having a party Monday?

Over twelve metres of tediun!

I have never cursed the making of anything more in my life, probably because I was rather ill and the process seemed to last forever! Also I got a text message asking that, for the party, the children dress as bees! Black and yellow theme, see. Somehow I managed a hurried bee T-shirt as well.

Ill and exhausted seamstress.

All done, and finished by the skin of my teeth. Phew.

Of course, by the end of the day she was filthy! I am glad I did it, and pleased to give the preschool something nice, but I am certain that I will say no next time!

How about you? Do you enjoy altruistic sewing?

Bear Dungarees!

Afternoon all. Hope everyone's preparations for Christmas are going well. I am ignoring it this year and hoping it will go away! The tree is up and mince pies have been eaten, and now - after months of upheaval from building works - I plan to veg out, relax, watch films and sew. Hurrah. For now though I do have a finished object to share...

These awesome dungarees have been made in grabbed ten minute chunks of time. Having a sewing room is an eye opener: you can leave your stuff mid-sew and no-one spills their food on it! And next time you have a spare five minutes you are ready to go again. Love it.

Boy growling like a bear.

I chose this to be my first sewing room project as I have been champing at the bit to make these ever since I saw Janet's foxy dungarees back in September. The pattern is from the book Wild Things by Kirsty Hartley. And it is a fabulous; full of colour and inspiration.  There are lots of projects to choose from, and -although a little fiddly with appliques - none of the designs are particularly hard to sew.

I wasn't being super exact with the details on my bear face, so they are a little uneven and the ears aren't symmetrical, but I care not. It's so jolly cute. I could have sat down and been precise but it would have taken longer, and as I say it really was a grab any time where I could sew project.

Middle boy has been looking forward to getting these since the book arrived. As luck would have it, I had the perfect fabric in my stash: a deep brown stretch velvet. I have had it forever and not known what to do with it; so, I am glad to have finally found a use for it. Because of the pile of the fabric, I had to use a walking foot as without it the fabric bunched under the needle. All praise the walking foot!

Whilst trying to push over the car boy models the back of the dungars!

He seems very pleased with his bear outfit and it's the little details like the clawed pockets that make it for me.  All in all, an enjoyable sew and I am looking forward to making something else from the book next year. 

Right, some presents to wrap, then some more sewing!

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?